UK  I. 


POPULAR  LIFE 


Gen.  Robert  Edward  Lee. 


H  Y    K  M  I  L  Y     V .    M  A  R  O  N . 


DEDICATED  BY  PERMISSION  TO  MRS.  LEE. 


Illustrate*)  foitjj  17  Original  Designs  bji  professor  floltk. 


'•  flue  mirh  f-xanijilo  i«  wortli  morn  to  mrth 
Than   lh«  Btainod  triumphs  of  Ion   tlii'iisaii'l  C 


BALTIMORE: 
PUBLISHED  BY  JOHN  MURPHY  <t  Co. 

1'URLISHF.RS,  HOOKSEU.ERR,   I'KINTP.RS  AMI  STATIONERS, 
182    K  A  1.  T  I  M  O  II  K    S  T  U  K  E  T. 

1872. 


fciiierert,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in    the   year  1871,  Sy 

JOHN  MURPHY  &  CO., 
in  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


b 


In  compliance  with  current  copyright 

law.  U.C.  Library  Bindery  produced 

this  replacement  volume  on  paper 

that  meets  the  ANSI  Standard  239  48. 

1984  to  replace  the  irreparably 

deteriorated  original 

1994 


DEDICATORY  PREFACE. 

MY  DEAR  MRS.  LEE: 

With  your  permission  I  dedicate  to  you  this  life  of 
our  beloved  hero.  It  may  seem  daring  in  one  so  unprac- 
tised to  attempt  a  theme  so  lofty.  But  I  have  hoped  that 
the  love  and  admiration  I  felt  for  General  Lee  would 
inspire  me  with  ability  to  present 'him  to  others  as  I 
knew  him. 

Other  writers  will  exhibit  his  public  life,  his  genius 
and  magnanimity.  I  wish  to  show  more  of  his  domestic 
character  and  private  virtues ;  his  unwearied  industry, 
his  self-control  and  self-denial,  his  unselfish  temper  ;  his 
generous  kindness,  his  gentle  manners ;  his  modesty  and 
moderation  in  success ;  his  patience  in  difficulties  and 
disappointments,  and  his  noble  fortitude  in  defeat  and 
disaster. 

That  you,  who  are  most  jealous  of  his  fame,  should 
honor  me  with  your  approval,  leads  me  to  hope  for  the 
like  indulgence  from  the  American  people  to  whose 

history  he  belongs. 

EMILY  V.  MASON. 

BALTIMORE,  June,  1871. 


iii 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAOE 

GENERAX  LEE,  HORSE  AND  TENT  (Frontispiece). 

RICHARD  HENRY  LEE,  FOUNDER  OF  THE  FAMILY      .        .  14 

THOMAS  LEE,  FIRST  AMERICAN  GOVERNOR       .        .        .  15 
RICHARD  HENRY  LEE,  MOVER  OF  THE  DECLARATION  OF 

INDEPENDENCE       17 

GENERAL  HENRY  LEE,  (LIGHT   HORSE  HARRY,)   FATHER 

OF  R.  E.  LEE 19 

STRATFORD,  BIRTHPLACE  OF  R.  E.  LEE,  (full  page)    .        .  21 
LIEUTENANT  AND  MRS.  LEE  AT  THE  TIME  OF  THEIR  MAR- 
RIAGE            27 

ARLINGTON  HOUSE 28 

CAPTAIN  LEE  WOUNDED  AT  CHAPULTEPEC       ...  51 

GENERAL  LEE  RECEIVED  BY  TIIK  VIRGINIA  CONVENTION  .  78 

MEETING  BETWEEN  LEE  AND  JACKSON                                  '  106 


BATTLE  OF  CHANCELLORSVILLE T78 

LEE  TO  THE  REAR,  AN  INCIDENT  AT  THE  BATTLE  OF  THE 

WILDERNESS 244 

IN  THE  TRENCHES  AT  PETERSBURG,  (full  page)   .        .        .  278 
GENERAL  LEE  ENTERING  RICHMOND  AFTER  THE  SURREN- 
DER          317 

GENERAL  LEE  AND  TRAVELLER 339 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  I. 

PARK 

Genealogy  —  Family  Seat  of  the  Lees  in  Virginia         .        .        .    lii 

CHAPTER  II. 

Mirth  —  Childhood  — His  Devotion  to  his  Mother  —  His  thoughtful 
Character  —  School  Life  in  Alexandria — West  Point — Enters 
the  Engineer  Corps —  Marriage — Arlington  —  The  White  House 

—  Promotion  —  Improvement  of  the  Navigation  of  the  Missis- 
sippi—  Letters  to  his  Family 21 

CHAPTER  III. 

The  Mexican  War  — Letter  to  his  Sons— Vera  Cruz — Cerro 
Gordo —  Encomiums  of  General  Scott  —  Passage  of  the  Pedrigal 

—  Wounded  at  Chapultepec  —  Promotion    .        >        .        .        .36 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Close  of  the  War  —  Stationed  near  Baltimore  —  Placed  in  Charge 
of  the  Military  Academy  at  West  Point  —  Transferred  to  the 
Cavalry  —  Ordered  to  Texas  —  Indian  Warfare  —  Letters  to  his 
Family  —  Hardships  of  Frontier  Service  —  Return  to  Arlington  52 

CHAPTER  V. 

The  John  Brown  War  —  Return  to  Texas  —  Letters  to  his  Family 

—  Thejjathering  Storm — Summoned  to  Washington  —  Secession 
of  Virginia  —  The  Sad  Alternative  —  Resigns  his  Commission 

—  Farewell  to  General  Scott  —  To  his  Sister —  His  Reticence    .     65 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Lee  in  Richmond  —  Appointed  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Vir- 
ginia Forces  —  Presented  to  the  Virginia  Convention  —  Address 
of  President  Janney  —  Organization  of  an  Army  —  Appointed 
General  in  the  Confederate  Service  —  Ordered  to  Western 
Virginia 78 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Gloucester  Point  —  Great  Bethel  —  Mantissas  —  Letter  to  his 
Family  —  Campaign  in  Western  Virginia  —  Causes  of  Failure 

—  His   Magnanimous  Silence  —  Services   on  the  Sea-Coast  — 
Letters  to  his  Daughters — Assigned  to  Duty  at  the  Seat  of 
Government 8-4 

vii 


Vlll  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

PAGI 

Reorganization  of  the  Army  —  The  Peninsula  Campaign  —  Battle 
of  Seven  Pines  —  Johnston  Wounded  —  General  Lee  takes  Com- 
mand —  Jackson's  Valley  Campaign  —  "  Stuart's  Ride  "  —  Gen- 
eral Orders  —  Jackson's  Mysterious  March  —  Mechanicsville  .  95 

CHAPTER  IX. 

The  Eve  of  Battle  —  Meeting  of  Lee  and  Jackson  —  Cold  Harbor 
—  The  Charge  of  the  Texas  Brigade  —  General  Lee's  Despatch     .  104 

CHAPTER  X. 

McClellan's  Retreat  —  Savage  Station  —  Frazier  Farm  —  Malvern 
Hill  —  General  Order  —  Results  of  the  Seven  Days'  Fighting  — 
McClellan's  Letter  from  Harrison's  Landing  ....  Ill 

CHAPTER  XI. 

McClellan|s  Removal  —  Pope  in  Command  —  His  Cruel  Orders  — 
General  Lee's  Remonstrance  —  Pope's  New  Art  of  War  —  Cedar 
Run  —  General  Lee's  Advance  —  General  Orders  —  Second 
Battle  of  Manassas 122 

CHAPTER  XII. 

Crossing  the  Potomac — Address  to  the  People  of  Maryland  — 
Boonsboro'  Gap  —  Harper's  Ferry 133 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

The  Battle  of  Sharpsburg — llecrossing  the  Potomac  —  General 
Lee's  Address  to  hi.s  Army  —  Review  of  the  Campaign  —  Per- 
sonal Incidents 142 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

Encampment  around  Winchester  —  Stuart's  Raid  into  Pennsyl- 
vania—  The  Federal  Army  in  Motion  —  Removal  of  McClellan  _ 

—  Buruside  in  Command  —  Camp  at  Fredericksburg  —  Letter 
from  General  Lee  to  his   Daughter  —  The   Bombardment  of 
Fredericksburg  —  The  Battle  —  General  Lee's  Despatch    .        .  152 

CHAPTER  XV. 

The  Federal  Army  rccrosses  the  Rappahannock  —  General  Lee's 
Address  to  his  Army  —  Winter  in  Camp  —  "  The  Mud  March  " 

—  Burnside's  Resignation  —  General  Hooker  in  Command       .  163 


CONTENTS.  IX 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

IMUK 

Hooker's  Campaign  —  Kelley's  Ford —  Death  of  Pelham  —  The 
Battle  of  Chancellorsville  —  Jackson's  Flank  Movement  in 
"  The  Wilderness  " — Jackson  Wounded  .....  109 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

Stuart  in  Command  of  Jackson's  Corps  —  The  Battle  Resumed  — 
"  The  Wilderness  "  on  Fire  —  The  Victory  —  General  Lee's 
Address  to  the  Army  —  Death  of  Jackson  announced  in  Gen- 
eral Orders  —  Letter  from  General  Lee  .....  177 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Cavalry  Fight  at  Brandy  Station  —  Marehiiig  Northward  — 
Milroy  driven  from  Winchester  —  Crossing  the  Frontier  — 
Hooker  Resigns  —  Meade  in  Command  —  General  Lee's  Strict 
Orders  for  Protection  of  Private  Property  —  Exemplary  Con- 
duct of  the  Southern  Troops  .......  184 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

The  Army  in  Pennsylvania  —  General  Lee  embarrassed  for  want 
of  Cavalry  —  Gettysburg  —  First  Day,  Hancock  remains  in 
possession  of  Cemetery  Ridge  —  Second  Day,  Attempts  upon 
the  Right  and  Left  —  Third  Day,  Pickett's  famous  Charge 
upon  the  Centre,  La  Garde  recule  ! 193 

CHAPTER  XX. 

The  Retreat  from  Gettysburg  —  The  Attack  upon  the  Wagon 
Trains  —  The  Potomac  Impassable  —  General  Lee  prepares  for 
Battle  — The  River  Falls— Back  to  Virginia  .  .  .  .204 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

Dark  Days  in  the  Confederacy  —  Proclamation  by  the  President  — 
General  Lee's  Order  to  the  Army  —  Longstreet's  Corps  sent 
to  Tennessee  —  General  Lee  Advances  upon  Meade  —  Stuart's 
Narrow  Escape —  Engagement  at  Bristoe  Station  —  Back  to  the 
Rapidan  —  Winter  Quarters  .......  213 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

Privations  of  the  Army  —  Incidents  at  Head-Quarters  —  General 
Lee's  Letter  to  the  City  Council  of  Richmond  —  An  Address  to 
the  Army  —  The  Dahlgren  Raid 223 


X  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

PAGE 

Grant  takes  Command  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac —  His  Advance 

—  The  Battle  of  the  Wilderness  — Longstreet  Wounded    .        .231 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

"  By  the  Left  Flank  "  —  The  Battles  at  Spottsylvania  Court-House 

—  Sheridan's  Raid  — Death  of  Stuart 240 

CHAPTER  XXV. 

Skirmishing  on  the  North  Anna  —  On  to  the  Chickahominy  — 
The  Second  Battle  of  Cold  Harbor 248 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

Operations  in  the  Valley  —  Hunter's  Raid  —  His  Cruelty  — 
Butler's  Advance  from  Bermuda  Hundreds  —  Battle  of  Drewry's 
Bluff — Grant  Crosses  the  James  —  Attempt  to  take  Petersburg 
by  Surprise  —  Commencement  of  the  Siege  ....  254 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 

The  Battle  of  the  Crater  —  Terrible  Carnage  —  Early's  Advance 
into  Maryland  —  Battle  of  Monocucy  —  In  Sight  of  the  Capitol 

—  Early  Retires  to  the  Opequon ->6l 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

Battle  of  Chafin's  Farm  —  Struggles  for  the  Weldou  Road  — 
Ream's  Station  —  The  South  Side  Road  —  Hatcher's  Run  — 
General  Lee's  Despatch  —  Reverses  in  the  Valley  —  Winchester 
— Fisher's  Hill  —  Cedar  Creek  —  General  Lee's  Letter  to  Gen- 
eral Early 267 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 

Winter  in  the  Trenches  —  Sufferings  of  the  Troops  —  "Lea  Mist- 
rabies  "  —  Disasters  iu  the  South  —  Depression  of  the  People  — 
General  Lee  Appointed  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Confederate 
Armies  —  Failure  of  Peace  Negotiations  —  Proposed  Enlistment 
of  Negroes .  277 

CHAPTER  XXX. 

General  Lee's  Order  Assuming  Command  of  the  Confederate 
Forces  — Fight  at  Hare's  Hill  — At  Five  Forks  — Last  Days 
at  Petersburg  —  Gallant  Defence  of  Fort  Gregg  .  .  .  286 


CONTENTS.  XI 

CHAPTER  XXXI. 

PAOC 

Death  of  General  A.  P.  Hill — Evacuation  of  Petersburg  and 
Richmond — The  Army  without  Rations  —  The  consequent 
Delay  —  The  Retreat  to  North  Carolina  Cut  Oft' — Loss  of 
Ewell's  Corps  — A  Council  of  War 294 

CHAPTER  XXXII. 

Starvation  and  Death — The  Veterans  still  March  and  Fight  — 
General  Grant  Proposes  a  Surrender  —  Correspondence  between 
the  Two  Commanders — Preparations  for  Another  Battle — The 
White  Flag  —  The  Surrender  —  Interview  between  General 
Lee  and  General  Grant  ........  302 

CHAPTER  XXXI II. 

The  Last  Hours  of  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia  —  The  Night 
of  Peace  —  General  Lee's  Farewell  to  li is  Army  —  His  Recep- 
tion in  Richmond  —  His  Retired  Life  —  Testimonials  of  Afl'ec- 
tion  and  Esteem —  His  Noble  Benrinp  in  Adversity  .  .  .313 

CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

He  is  offered  the  Presidency  of  Washington  College  —  Letter  of 
Acceptance  —  Installation  —  Condition  of  the  College  —  His 
Earnest  Devotion  to  his  New  Duties  —  Influence  of  his  Char- 
acter  and -Example  —  His  Valuable  Services  to  the  College  .  324 

CHAPTER  XXXV. 

Summoned  before  the  Reconstruction  Committee  —  His  Testimony 
—  -Letters  to  a  Friend  —  Incident5;  Illiixtrntin;:  his  Character 
—His  Last  Illness— Death  — Funeral  KiU'.s 336 

APPENDIX 351 

Washington  and  Lee  University  —  Funeral  Ceremonies  —  Me- 
morial Meetings — -In  Haltimore,  Md.  —  Louisville,  Ky. — 
New  Orleans,  La.  —  Atlanta,  ( Ja.  —  Augusta,  Ga.  —  Colum- 
bia, S.  C.  —  Baltimore,  Md.  — Richmond,  Va.  — Other  Tri- 
butes of  Respect. 


A  POPULAR  LIFE  OF 
GENERAL  ROBERT  EDWARD  LEE, 


CHAPTER  I. 

Genealogy  —  Family  Seat  of  the  Lees  in  Virginia. 

THE  Lees  of  Virginia  come  from  one  of  the  an- 
cient families  of  England.  The  founder  of  the 
family  came  in  with  William  the  Conqueror,  and 
acquired  estates  in  Essex. 

Lionel  Lee  went  with  Richard  Coeur  de  Lion  to 
the  third  Crusade,  in  1192,  and  was  created  Earl  of 
Litchfield  at  the  siege  of  Acre.  His  armor  is  in  the 
horse  armory  of  the  Tower  of  London. 

Two  of  the  family  were  Knights-Companions  of 
the  Garter.  Their  banners,  surmounted  by  the  Lee 
arms,  were  placed  in  Saint  George's  Chapel,  at 
Windsor  Castle. 

Sir  Henry  Lee  was  Knight  of  the  Garter  in 
Queen  Elizabeth's  time.  The  Earldom  of  Litch- 
field passed  to  the  fifth  baronet  of  his  line,  in  1674. 

Richard  Lee,  a  younger  son  of  the  house  of  Litch- 

2  1:5" 


14  A    POPULAR    LIFE   OF 

field,*  came  over  to  Virginia,  in  the  reign  of  Charles 
the  First,  as  Secretary  to  the  Colony,  and  member 

of  the  King's  Privy 
Council.  He  is  de- 
scribed as  a  man  of 
"good  stature,  comely 
visage,  enterprising  ge- 
nius, sound  head,  and 
generous  nature,"  — 
traits  of  person  and 
character  marked  in  his 
descendants.  He  was  a 
staunch  Loyalist  in  the 
Civil  "War,  and,  with 
the  Governor,  Sir  Wil- 
liam Berkley,  held  the 

RICHARD  HENRTLEE.  /^<i  • ,         n 

Colony  to  its  allegiance 

until  after  the  fall  of  the  king.  Cromwell  sent  naval 
and  land  forces  to  compel  the  submission  of  the 
Colony.  The  Colonial  authorities  made  a  treaty 
with  the  forces  of  the  Commonwealth,  in  which 
Virginia  is  styled  an  "  Independent  Dominion." 
This  was  the  origin  of  her  name,  "  Old  Dominion." 
The  king  showed  his  gratitude  for  this  loyalty 
by  ordering  the  arms  of  Virginia  to  be  added  to 
those  of  England,  France,  Ireland,  and  Scotland, 
with  the  motto,  "En  dat  Virginia  qit,intam,"  (Behold, 

*  He  was  the  seventh  son  of  Sir  Robert  Lee  of  Hulcott,  and 
younger  brother  of  Sir  Henry  Lee  of  Qunrrendon  and  Ditchley. 


GENERAL    ROB  E  II T    E  .  L  E  E  . 


15 


Virginia  makes  the  fifth,)  which  was  changed,  after 
the  union  of  England  and  Scotland,  to  "Eii  <lat  Vir- 
ginia quartam."  * 

Thomas  Lee,  grand- 
son of  Kichard,  was 
President,  of  the  Coun- 
cil and  Governor  of  the 
Colony  —  the  first  na- 
tive American  in  that 
office,  under  the  British 
Crown.  lie  was  so  es- 
teemed in  England, 
that  when  his  country- 
seat,  Stratford,  f  in 
Westmoreland,  was 
burned,  it  was  rebuilt 

THOMAS  LEE. 

*  Mr.  Edward  C.  Monde,  of  Alhetmrle  County,  Virginia,  tells  us 
of  a  medal  which  wus  ploughed  up  on  his  farm,  of  the  following 
description: — On  one  side  a  head,  with  the  words,  "Georgitis  III., 
Rex  ;"  on  the  other,  a  shield  surmounted  by  a  crown,  on  which  are 
quartered  the  arms  of  England,  Scotland,  Ireland,  and  Virginia ; 
the  whole  encircled  with  the  word,  "  Virginia,  1773." 

A  similar  coin  is  in  possession  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical 
Society. 

f  Mr.  Lossing,  in  his  "  Field-Rook  of  the  Revolution,"  says  of 
this  fine  mansion:  "There  is  no  structure  in  our  country  to  com- 
pare with  it.  The  walls  of  the  first  story  are  two  and  a  half  feet 
thick,  and  the  second  story  two  feet  — composed  of  brick  imported 
from  England.  It  originally  contained  about  one  hundred  rooms. 
Besides  the  main  building,  there  are  four  oHices,  one  at  each 
corner,  containing  fifteen  rooms.  The  stables  are  capable  ot 
accommodating  one  hundred  horses.  Its  cost  was  about  eighty 
thousand  dollars." 


16  A   POPULAR   LIFE   OP 

by  the  Government  and  the  merchants  of  London. 
Queen  Caroline  contributed  to  it  from  her  privy 
purse,  in  a  complimentary  letter  to  him  under  her 
own  hand.  He  is  known  in  Colonial  History  as 
"  President  Lee." 

The  following  is  an  extract  from  the  Will  of  this 
remarkable  man : 

"  In  the  name  of  God,  Amen.  I,  Thomas  Lee,  in 
the  County  of  Westmoreland  in  Virginia,  Esq., 
President  and  Commander-in-chief  of  the  said  Col- 
ony, being  (thanks  be  to  God)  of  sound  and  dispos- 
ing sense  and  memory,  do  make  and  declare  this 
my  last  will  and  testament,  all  written  with  my  own 
hand  this  twenty-second  day  of  February,  in  the 
year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and 
forty-nine  (1749).  First  my  soul  I  do  resign,  with 
all  humility  and  sincerity,  to  the  Lord  God  of  the 
Heavens  from  whom  my  sinful  flesh  received  it, 
in  steadfast  hope  of  mercy  and  forgiveness  of  all 
my  sins  and  often ces  by  the  sufferings  and  death  of 
His  beloved  Son  Jesus  Christ,  the  Saviour  and  Re- 
deemer of  all  men.  Amen.  Amen.  Amen. 

"  As  to  my  body,  I  desire,  if  it  pleases  God  that  I 
die  anywhere  in  Virginia,  it  may  be  buried  between 
my  late  dearest  wife  and  my  honored  mother,  and 
that  the  bricks  on  the  side  next  my  wife  may  be 
moved,  and  my  coffin  placed  as  near  hers  as  is  pos- 
sible, without  removing  or  disturbing  the  remains 
of  my  mother.  Having  observed  much  indecent 
mirth  at  funerals,  I  desire  that  last  piece  of  human 
vanity  be  omitted,  and  that,  attended  only  by  some 


(!  E  N  K  II  A  I,    RO  B  K  li  'I'    K  .  I, 11  E  . 


17 


of  those  friends  ami  relations  that,  are  near,  my 
body  may  be  silently  interred  with  only  the  Church 
ceremony,  and  that  a  funeral  sermon,  with  instruc- 
tion to  the  living,  be  preached  at  the  Parish  Church, 
near  Stratford,  on  any  other  day."  Etc.,  etc. 

Among  the  SOUR  of  Thomas  Lee  who  acted  a  lead- 
ing part  in  public  af- 
fairs, were  the  orator 
Richard  Henry  Lee,  of 
Chantilly,  a  leader  of 
the  Revolutionary  Con- 
gress, and  the  mover 
of  the  Resolution  which 
declared  the  indepen- 
dence of  the  Colonies ; 
Francis  Lightfoot  Lee, 
a  member  of  the  Con- 
gress, and  a  signer  of 
the  Declaration;  and  n>  H.MM.  urM-v  LEE. 

Arthur   Lee,  who  was 

minister  of  the  Colonies  in  France  and  other  coun- 
tries of  Europe  during  the  Revolution. 

General  Henry  Lee,  father  of  Robert  E.  Lee,  was 
grandson  of  a  brother  of  President  Lee.  Fie  served 
with  great  distinction  in  Hie  war  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, and  is  known  in  history  as  "  Light  Horse 
Harry."  Though  young— -not  of  age  when  he  en- 
tered the  service — his  military  genius  was  at  once 
2*  I? 


18  A    POPULAR    LIFE   OF 

conspicuous,  and    drew  to  him  the  peculiar   con- 
fidence of  General  Washington.* 

When  the  war  ended,  he  retired  to  Stratford,  in 
Westmoreland  County,  Avhich  estate  came  into  his 
possession  through  his  first  marriage  with  his 
cousin  Matilda,  daughter  of  Philip  Ludwell  Lee. 
General  Robert  Lee,  in  his  Life  of  his  father  pre- 
fixed to  the  third  edition  of  the  "  Southern  Cam- 
paigns," has  given  us  a  description  of  this  fine  old 
mansion. 

"  The  approach  to  the  house  is  on  the  south, 
along  the  side  of  a  lawn  several  hundred  acres  in 
extent,  adorned  with  cedars,  oaks,  and  forest  pop- 
lars. On  ascending  a  hill,  not  far  from  the  gate, 
the  traveller  comes  in  full  view  of  the  mansion, 
when  the  road  turns  to  the  right  and  leads  straight 
to  a  grove  of  sugar-maples,  around  which  it  sweeps 
to  the  house.  The  edifice  is  built  in  the  form  of  an 
II,  and  of  bricks  brought  from  England.  The  cross 
furnishes  a  saloon  of  thirty  feet  cube,  and  in  the 
centre  of  each  wing  rises  a  cluster  of  chimneys, 
which  form  the  columns  of  two  pavilions  connected 
by  a  balustrade.  The  owner,  who  before  the  Revo- 
lution was  a  member  of  the  King's  Council,  lived 
here  in  great  state,  and  kept  a  band  of  musicians, 
to  whose  airs  his  daughters  Matilda  and  Flora,  with 
their  companions,  danced  in  the  saloon,  or  prom- 
enaded on  the  house-top." 

*  His  mother  (Miss  Grymes)  had  been  the  object  of  General 
Washington's  youthful  admiration.  He  wrote  sentimental  verses 
to  her,  and  spoke  of  her  as  his  "  lowland  beauty."  He  tidds,  "  I 
was  very  unhappy,  but  never  told  my  admiration." 


G  E  N  E  R  A  L    II O  R  E  II T    E  .  I,  E  E  . 


19 


General  Henry  Lee  won  equal  distinction  in  civil 
and  in  military  life.  Tie  rose  to  the  first  rank  in 
his  country  in  politics  and  letters.  ITis  "  Memoirs 
of  the  War  in  the  Southern  Department"  is  a  his- 
tory worthy  the  great  events  narrated  in  if.  His 
eloquence  in  Congress  caused  his  selection  hy  both 
houses  to  deliver  the  funeral  oration  of  General 
Washington.  The  resolutions  which  he  drew  up 
on  this  occasion,  and  which  were  presented  by 
Judge  Marshall  in  General  Lee's  temporary  ab- 
sence, contained  those  celebrated  words,  "  First  in 
war,  first  in  peace,  and  first  in  the  hearts  of  his  country- 
men." 

General  Henry  Lee 
was  three  times  chosen 
Governor  of  Virginia, 
lie  represented  West- 
moreland in  the  Vir- 
ginia Convention  which 
ratified  the  Federal 
Constitution  at'ler  a 
severe  struggle,  in 
which  Patrick  Henry 
exerted  all  his  great 
powers  to  defeat  it, 
and  predicted  with  ,;ENERA,.  n  >;N,<  v  LKE. 

wonderful  sagacity  the  future  ascendency  of  the 
I'liion  over  the  liberties  of  the  States.  General 
Lee  and  Mr.  Madison  were  its  leading  advocates. 


20  A    l'01'ULAK    LIFE   OF 

So  highly  were  General  Henry  Lee's  services 
upon  another  occasion  esteemed  by  his  countrymen, 
that  a  vote  of  thanks  was  passed  by  Congress,  and 
a  medal  presented  to  him,  on  which  his  deeds  were 
designated  in  the  following  beautiful  words  :  "Not- 
trithstandinf/  ricers  and  intrenchments,  he,  with  a  small 
html,  conquered  the  foe  by  warlike,  skill  and  prowess,  and 
firmly  bound  by  his  humanity  those  who  had  been  con- 
quered by  his  arms;"  —words  which,  as  one  of  his 
biographers  has  remarked,  may  be  applied  with 
equal  truth  to  his  son.  General  Henry  Lee  was 
twice  married.  First,  to  Matilda,  daughter  of  Philip 
Ludwell  Lee,  of  Stratford,  who  left  him  a  daughter, 
Lucy,  and  a  son,  Henry,  a  learned  scholar  and  elo- 
quent writer  in  politics  and  history.  His  second 
wife  was  Anne  Carter,  daughter  of  Charles  Carter, 
of  Shirley,  on  the  James  River;  of  the  distinguished 
and  wealthy  family  descended  from  Robert  Carter, 
known  in  Colonial  History  as  "  King  Carter,"  from 
his  immense  estates. 

The  children  of  the  second  marriage  were  Charles 
Carter  Lee,  of  I'owhattan,  Virginia;  Sidney  Smith 
Lee,  a  commander  in  the  U.  S.  Navy  in  1860  — 
afterwards  of  the  C.  S.  N"avy ;  General  Robert  Ed- 
ward Lee  ;  and  two  daughters,  Anne  and  Mildred 
Lee. 


O  E  N  E  R  A  L    HOP  K  R  T    E  .  L  E  E  .  21 


CHA  I'TKR    IF. 

Birth  —  Childhood  —  His  Devotion  («>  his  Mother —  His  thoughtful 
Character  —  School-Life  in  Alexandria  —  West  Point  —  Enters 
the  Engineer  Corps — Marriage — Arlington  — The  White  House 
—  Promotion  —  Improvement  of  the  Navigation  of  the  Missis- 
sippi—  Letters  to  his  Family. 

ROBERT  EDWARD  LEE  first  Raw  the  light  at 
Stratford,  Westmoreland  County,  Virginia, 
on  the  19th  of  January,  1807,  in  the  same  room  in 
which  two  of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  were  born  —  Richard  Henry  Lee, 
and  Francis  Lightfoot  Lee. 

He  was  the  fourth  child  of  General  Henry  Lee, 
and  was  named  for  his  maternal  uncles,  Robert  and 
Edward  Carter,  of  Shirley. 

When  he  was  but  four  years  of  age,  his  father 
removed  to  Alexandria,  the  better  to  educate  his 
children ;  and  there  are  many  persons  yet  living 
in  that  old  town  who  remember  him  at  that  early 
age.  From  these  sources  we  are  assured  that  his 
childhood  was  as  remarkable  as  his  manhood  for 
the  modesty  and  thought  fulness  of  his  character, 
and  for  the  performance  of  every  duty  which  de- 
volved upon  him. 

The  family  lived  on  Cameron  Street,  near  the 
old  Christ  Church  —  then  on  Orinoco  Street  —  and 
afterwards  in  the  house  known  as  the  Parsonage. 


22  A    P  O  1M  J  I ,  A  II    1,1  F  K    O  F  [  1 807. 

At  this  period  <  icneral  Henry  Lee  was  absent  in 
the  West  Indies  in  pursuit  of  health;  and  in  one 
of  the  admirable  letters  written  to  his  son  Carter, 
then  a  student  at  Cambridge,  lie  says :  "  Robert, 
\vho  was  always  good,  will  be  confirmed  in  his 
happy  turn  of  mind  by  his  ever  watchful  and  affec- 
tionate mother." 

When  he  was  eleven  years  of  age,  his  father  died. 

From  one  of  his  family,  who  knew  him  best,  we 
are  told,  that  from  his  excellent  mother  he  learned, 
at  this  early  age,  to  "  practise  self-denial  and  self- 
control,  as  well  as  the  strictest  economy  in  all  finan- 
cial concerns,"  virtues  which  he  retained  through- 
out his  life. 

This  good  mother  was  a  great  invalid;  one  of 
his  sisters  was  delicate,  and  many  years  absent  in 
Philadelphia  under  the  care  of  physicians.  The 
oldest  son  Carter  was  at  Cambridge,  Sidney  Smith 
in  the  N"avy,  and  the  other  sister  too  young  to  be 
of  much  aid  in  household  matters;  so  Robert  was 
the  housekeeper,  carried  "the  keys,"  attended  to 
the  marketing,  managed  all  the  out-door  business, 
and  took  care  of  his  mother's  horses. 

At  the  hour  when  the  other  school-boys  went  to 
play,  he  hurried  home  to  order  his  mother's  drive, 
and  would  then  be  seen  carrying  her  in  his  arms  to 
the  carriage,  and  arranging  her  cushions  with  the 
gentleness  of  an  experienced  nurse.  One  of  liis 
relatives  still  lives  who  was  often  the  companion  of 


1818.]  GEN  ERA  I,    ROBERT    K.LEK.  23 

these  drives.  She  tells  us* of  the  exertions  he  would 
make  on  these  occasions  to  entertain  and  amuse  his 
mother;  assuring  her,  with  the  gravity  of  an  old 
man,  that,  unless  she  was  cheerful,  the  drive  would 
not  benefit  her.  When  she  complained  of  cold  or 
"draughts,"  he  would  pull  from  his  pocket  a  great 
jack-knife  and  newspaper,  and  make  her  laugh 
with  his  efforts  to.  improvise  curtains,  and  shut  out 
the  intrusive  wind  which  whistled  through  the 
crevices  of  the  old  family-coach. 

When  he  left  her  to  go  to  West  Point,  his  mother 
was  heard  to  say,"  How  can  I  live  without  Robert? 
he  is  both  son  and  daughter  to  me." 

Years  after,  when  he  came  home  from  West 
Point,  he  found  one  of  the  chief  actors  in  his  child- 
hood's drama — his  mother's  old. coachman  "Nat" 
—  ill,  and  threatened  with  consumption.  Ho  im- 
mediately took  him  to  the  milder  climate  of  Georgia, 
nursed  him  with  the  tenderness  of  a  son,  and  secured 
him  the  best  medical  advice.  But  the  spring-time 
saw  the  faithful  old  servant  laid  in  the  grave  by  the 
hands  of  his  kind  young  master. 

General  Lee  used  to  say  that  he  was  very  fond 
hunting  when  a  boy  —  that  he  sometimes  followed 
the  hounds  on  foot  all  day.  This  will  account  for 
his  well-developed  form,  and  for  that  wonderful 
strength  which  was  never  known  to  fail  him  in  all 
the  fatigues  and  privations  of  his  after-life. 

His  first  teacher  was  an  Irish   gentleman,  Mr. 


24  A    POPULAR    LIFE   OP  [1825. 

William  B.  Leary,  who  came  to  Lexington  to  visit 
him  after  the  termination  of  the  war;  and  when 
General  Lee  was  returning  from  Georgia  about  two 
years  ago,  this  gentleman  came  a  great  distance  to 
meet  him,  and  they  had  another  most  pleasant  meet- 
ing. Only  last  summer,  when  General  Lee  was  in 
Alexandria,  one  of  the  old  neighbors  found  him 
gazing  wistfully  over  the  palings  of  the  garden  in 
which  he  used  to  play.  "  I  am  looking,"  said  he, 
"  to  see  if  the  old  snowball-trees  are  still  here.  I 
should  have  been  sorry  to  miss  them." 

One  of  his  friends  gives  a  remarkable  incident  to 
show  the  influence  which,  even  at  this  early  day,  his 
simple  dignity  and  high  sense  of  right  exercised 
upon  all  who  came  in  contact  with  him,  the  old  as 
well  as  the  young.  Being  invited,  during  a  vaca- 
tion, to  visit  a  friend  of  his  family  who  lived  in  the 
gay,  rollicking  style  then  but  too  common  in  old 
Virginia,  he  found  in  his  host  one  of  the  grand 
old  gentlemen  of  that  day,  with  every  fascination 
of  mind  and  manner,  who,  though  not  of  dissipated 
habits,  led  a  life  which  the  sterner  sense  of  the  boy 
could  not  approve.  The  old  man  shrunk  before  the 
unspoken  rebuke  of  the  youthful  hero.  Coming 
to  his  bedside  the  night  before  his  departure,  he 
lamented  the  idle  and  useless  life  into  which  he  had 
fallen,  excusing  himself  upon  the  score  of  loneliness, 
and  the  sorrow  which  weighed  upon  him  in  the  loss 
of  those  most  dear.  In  the  most  impressive  manner 


1825.]  GEN  ERA  I,    ROBERT    E.   LEE.  25 

he  besought  Ins  young  guest  to  be  warned  by  his 
example;  pra}*ed  him  to  cherish  the  good  habits  he 
had  already  acquired,  and  promised  to  listen  to  his 
entreaties  that  he  would  change  his  own  life,  and 
thereby  secure  more  entirely  his  respect  and  affec- 
tion. 

When  it  was  decided  that  he  should  go  to  West 
Point,  Robert  was  sent  to  Mr.  Benjamin  Hallo  well, 
a  famous  teacher  of  mathematics  in  Alexandria, 
whose  estimation  of  his  pupil  may  be  seen  in  the 
following  extract  from  one  of  his  letters: 

"  Robert  E.  Lee  entered  my  school  in  Alexandria, 
Virginia,  in  the  winter  of  1824-5,  to  study  mathe- 
matics preparatory  to  his  going  to  West  Point.  He 
was  a  most  exemplary  student  in  every  respect. 
lie  was  never  behind  time  at  his  studies;  never 
failed  in  a  single  recitation  ;  was  perfectly  observant 
of  the  rules  and  regulations  of  the  Institution;  was 
gentlemanly,  unobtrusive,  and  respectful  in  all  his 
deportment  to  teachers  and  his  fellow-students. 
His  specialty  was  finishing  up.  He  imparted  a  finish 
and  a  neatness,  as  he  proceeded,  to  everything  he 
undertook.  One  of  the  branches  of  mathematics  he 
studied  with  me  was  Conic  Sections,  in  which  some 
of  the  diagrams  are  very  complicated.  He  drew  the 
diagrams  on  a  slate;  and  although  he  well  knew 
that  the  one  he  was  drawing  would  have  to  be 
removed  to  make  room  for  another,  he  drew  each 
one  with  as  much  accuracy  and  finish,  lettering  and 
all,  as  if  it  was  to  be  engraved  and  printed.  He 
8 


26  A    POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1825. 

carried  the  same  traits  he  exhihited  at  my  school 
with  him  to  West  Point,  where  I  have  been  told  he 
never  received  a  mark  of  demerit,  and  graduated 
head  of  his  class. 

"  A  feeling  of  .mutual  kindness  and  respect  con- 
tinued between  us  to  the  close  of  his  life. 

"  He  was  a  great  friend  and  advocate  of  education. 

"  It  was  a  matter  of  great  regret  to  me  that  he 
thought  it  right  to  take  the  course  he  did  in  our 
recent  national  difficulties ;  but  I  never  entertained 
the  least  doubt  that  he  was  influenced  by  what  he 
believed  to  be  his  duty,  and  what  was  entirely  in 
harmony  with  the  requirements^  a  gentleman  and 
the  dictates  of  honor." 

In  1825,  when  he  was  eighteen  years  of  age,  he 
entered  the  Military  Academy  at  West  Point,  where 
he  remained  four  years,  graduating  in  1829, 

From  the  first,  he  rose  to  the  head  of  his  class, 
and  retained  this  "  standing "  until  he  left  the 
Academy.  During  his  whole  course  he  never  re- 
ceived a  "  demerit  mark  "  for  any  breach  or  neglect 
of  duty. 

By  his  comrades  he  was  held  in  the  highest 
esteem,  and  was  noted  for  his  studious  habits  and 
exemplary  conduct.  He  never  drank  intoxicating 
liquor,  never  used  tobacco,  or  indulged  in  any  of 
the  petty  vices  to  which  youth  is  apt.  Indeed,  one 
of  those  who  knew  him  intimately  from  his  boy- 
hood to  his  grave,  declared  that  he  never  knew  him 


1825.] 


GENERAL    ROBERT   E  .  L  E  E . 


27 


"to  utter  an  immoral  or  profane  word,  and  never 
saw  him  taste  a  drop  of  intoxicating  drink." 

Upon  leaving  West  Point,  Robert.  E.  Lee  received 
the  appointment  of  Second  Lieutenant  in  the  Corps 
of  Engineers,  to  which  branch  of  the  service  the 
most  distinguished  graduates  are  assigned.  After 
a  short  furlough  he  entered  upon  the  duties  of  his 
profession,  and  was  first  ordered  to  Oockspur 
Island,  near  Savannah.  In  1831,  Lieutenant  Lee 
married  Mary,  daughter  and  heiress  of  Washing- 
ton Parke  Custis,  and  grand-daughter  of  the  wife 
of  General  Washington.  By  this  marriage  the 
young  officer  became  a  frequent  resident  of  Arling- 
ton House. 


LIEUTENANT  ANI>  MRS.  IJEE,  AT  THE  TIME  OK  TIIMR  MARRIVIE. 


28 


A    POPULAR    LIFE   OF 


[1831. 


This  fine  mansion  stands  upon  the  Virginia 
Heights,  opposite  Washington  City,  overlooking 
the  Potomac,  and  was  for  many  years  an  object  of 
attraction  to  all  visitors  to  Washington  on  account 
of  its  historical  associations,  and  the  Washington 
relics  collected  and  preserved  by  the  patriotic  father 
of  Mrs.  Lee.  Here  were  to  be  seen  the  original 


ARLINGTON    MOUSE. 


portraits  of  General  and  Mrs.  Washington,  painted 
at  the  time  of  their  marriage,  which  have  been  so 
constantly  reproduced.  The  portrait  of  Mrs.  Wash- 
ington's first  husband,  Colonel  Parkc  Custis,  of 


1831.]          GENERAL    ROBERT    E.  LEE.  29 

many  of  his  progenitors,  and  several  pictures  of  the 
great  Revolutionary  battles,  painted  by  Mr.  Custis, 
whose  delight  it  was  to  perpetuate  upon  canvas  the 
features  of  the  great  man  who  had  been  to  him  a 
father,  and  to  commemorate  the  important  scenes 
in  which  he  had  been  an  actor. 

Here,  also,  was  the  last  original  portrait  of  Gen- 
eral Washington,  by  Sharpless,  a  distinguished 
English  artist  who  painted  in  crayons.  Many  of 
the  pictures  and  much  of  the  old  furniture  of  Mt. 
Vernon  was  here ;  the  china  presented  to  Mrs. 
Washington  by  certain  English  merchants,  upon 
which  was  her  monogram ;  that  given  to  General 
Washington  by  the  Society  of  the  Cincinnati ;  the 
tea-table  at  which  Mrs.  Washington  always  pre- 
sided ;  a  book-case  made  by  General  Washington's 
own  directions ;  and  the  bed  upon  which  he  died. 

Arlington  House  was  surrounded  by  groves  of 
stately  trees,  except  in  front,  where  the  hill  de- 
scended to  a  lovely  valley  spreading  away  to  the 
river.  The  view  from  the  height  showed  Washing- 
ton, Georgetown,  and  a  long  stretch  of  the  Potomac 
in  the  foreground,  with  Wooded  hills  and  valleys 
making  a  background  of  dark  foliage. 

This  place,  so  full  of  historical  association,  was 
to  obtain  yet  further  celebrity  as  the  first  camping- 
ground  of  the  "  grand  army  "  of  the  North,  upon 
its  entry  into  Virginia  sixty  years  after  Washing- 
ton's death. 
8* 


30  A    POPULAR    LIFE   OF  [1831. 

The  "  White  House,"  on  the  Pamunkey,  the 
scene  of  the  marriage  of  General  Washington  with 
the  "  Widow  Custis,"  came  also  into  Lieutenant 
Lee's  family,  being  bequeathed  by  the  maternal 
grandfather  to  the  "  second  son  "  of  this  marriage. 

This  interesting  old  place  was  burned,  by  the 
Federal  army  in  1802.  When  forced  to  leave  Ar- 
lington, Mrs.  Lee,  witli  her  family,  had  taken 
refuge  here;  but  the  White  House  being  found  a 
favorable  "  base  "  for  the  Federal  army,  the  follow- 
ing year,  they  were  obliged  to  seek  a  place  of 
greater  safety.  Before  her  departure  from  this  her 
last  homestead,  Mrs.  Lee  wrote  and  affixed  to  the 
door  of  the  house  the  following  appeal : 

"  Northern  soldiers  who  profess  to  reverence 
Washington,  forbear  to  desecrate  the  home  of  his 
first  married  life,  the  property  of  hi.s  wife,  now 
owned  by  her  descendants. 

"  A  GRAND-DAUGHTER  OF  MRS.  WASHINGTON." 

A  Northern  officer  is  sa^d  to  have  written  be- 
neath this: 

"  A  Northern  officer  has  protected  your  property, 
in  sight  of  the  enemy,  and  at  the  request  of  your 
overseer." 

The  house,  however,  was  burned,  either  before 
or  during  General  McOlellan's  retreat,  and  "not  a 
blade  of  grass  left  to  mark  the  culture  of  more  than 
:i  hundred  vears." 


1839.]          OENEHA  L    ROBERT    E.  LEE.  31 

After  his  marriage,  Lion ( (.-nan t  Lee.  was  sent  to 
Old  Point,  Va.,  where  he  remained  for  Ihroe  years. 
In  1835  lie  was  a j (pointed  Assistant  Astronomer  for 
marking  out  the  boundary  line  between  Ohio  and 
Michigan.  The  following  year  he  was  made  First 
Lieutenant,  and  in  July,  1838,  Captain  of  Engineers. 

In  1838-31)  he  was  sent  to  improve  the  navigation 
of  the  Mississippi  at  St.  Louis,  and  to  open  u  pas- 
sage for  the  river  at  the  Des  Moines  Rapids.  Here 
he  executed  one  of  his  greatest  feats  of  engineering. 

The  following  account  of  his  services  in  the 
West  is  given  by  one  of  his  early  friends  *  in  a 
notice  of  his  death,  published  in  the  "  Chicago 
Daily  Argus  " : 

"  General  Gratiot,  Chief  of  the  Engineer  Corps, 
on  the  recommendation  of  Generals  Jones  and 
Dodge,  of  Iowa,  placed  R.  E.  Lee  in  charge  of  the 
improvements  of  the  rapids  of  the  Mississippi 
River.  His  exhibition  of  skill  as  an  engineer  and 
reliable  manager  made  for  him  thousands  of  ad- 
mirers and  friends  on  the  Upper  and  Lower  Mis- 
sissippi, and  secured  for  him  the  confidence  and 
consideration  of  liis  superior  officers." 

"  In  1838-39  there  was  a  serious  alarm  and  real 
danger  of  the  Mississippi  River  cutting  a  channel 
on  the  Illinois  side,  by  which  St.  Louis  would  have 
become  a  '  deserted  village,'  when  the  talent  and 
skill  of  R.  E.  Lee  were  sought  and  obtained.  He 
conceived  and  executed  a  plan  which  saved  St. 
Louis  from  destruction  as  a  commercial  city." 

*  Captain  May,  of  Illinois. 


32  A    POPULAR    LIFE   OF  [1839. 

While  the  work  was  in  progress,  the  people  of 
Missouri  clamored  and  criticised  and  predicted 
failure.  Unmoved  by  public  opinion,  he  went  on 
steadily  —  and  succeeded. 

Free  from  the  egotism  and  vanity  of  other  men, 
modest  yet  firm,  he  reasoned  out  his  plans,  and  then 
never  swerved  from  the  proper  line  of  execution. 
This  firmness  and  confidence  came  from  thinking 
of  things  and  principles  —  not  of  other  men  and 
their  opinions. 

It  was  while  upon  this  duty  that  the  following 
letter  was  written  to  Mrs.  Lee,  which  shows  him 
most  amiably  in  the  tender  relation  of  husband  and 

father. 

"  LOUISVILLE,  June  5th,  1839. 

"My  DEAREST  MARY: — I  arrived  here  last  night, 
and  before  going  out  this  morning  will  inform  you 
of  my  well-doing  thus  far. 

"After  leaving  Stanton,  I  got  on  very  well,  but 
did  not  reach  Guyandotte  till  Sunday  afternoon, 
where  before  alighting  from  the  stage  I  espied  a 
boat  descending  the  river  in  whick  I  took  passage 
to  Cincinnati. 

"  You  do  not  know  how  much  I  have  missed  you 
and  the  children,  my  dear  Mary.  To  be  alone  in 
a  crowd  is  very  solitary.  In  the  woods  I  feel 
sympathy  with  the  trees  and  birds  in  whose  com- 
pany I  take  delight,  but  experience  no  interest  in 
a  strange  crowd. 

"I  hope  you  are  all  well,  and  will  continue  so: 


1842.]          GENERAL   ROBERT    E.  LEE.  33 

and  therefore  must  again  urge  upon  you  to  be  very 
prudent  and  careful  of  those  dear  children.  If  I 
could  only  get  a  squeeze  at  that  little  fellow  turn- 
ing up  his  sweet  mouth  to  '  keese  Baba'!'  You 
must  not  let  him  run  wild  in  my  absence,  and  will 
have  to  exercise  firm  authority  over  all  of  them. 
This  will  not  require  severity,  or  even  strictness, 
but  constant  attention,  and  an  unwavering  course. 
Mildness  and  forbearance,  tempered  by  firmness 
and  judgment,  will  strengthen  their  affection  for 
you,  while  it  will  maintain  your  control  over 
them." 

In  1842  Captain  Lee  was  sent  to  Fort  Hamilton, 
in  New  York  harbor,  and  while  there,  was,  in  1844, 
appointed  one  of  the  board  of  visitors  to  the  West 
Point  Academy. 

The  following  letter,  written  about  this  time  to 
one  of  his  children,  will  show  what  admirable  les- 
sons he  was  ever  ready  to  impart  to  them. 

"FoRT  HAMILTON,  March  31st,  1846. 
"  I  cannot  go  -to  bed,  my  dear  son,  without 
writing  you  a  few  lines  to  thank  you  for  your  letter, 
which  gave  me  great  pleasure.  I  am  glad  to  hear 
you  are  well,  and  hope  you  are  learning  to  read  and 
write,  and  that  the  next  letter  you  will  be  able  to 
write  yourself.  T  want  to  see  you  very  much,  and 
to  tell  you  all  that  has  happened  since  you  went 
away.  I  do  not  think  I  ever  told  you  of  a  fine  boy 
1  heard  of  in  my  travels  this  winter.  He  lived  in 
the  mountains  of  New  Hampshire.  He  was  just 


34  A    POPULAR    LIFE   OF  [1846. 

13  years  old,  the  age  of  Custis.  His  father  was  a 
farmer,  and  he  used  to  assist  him  to  work  on  his 
farm  as  much  as  he  could.  The  snow  there  this 
winter  was  deeper  than  it  has  been  for  years,  and 
one  day  he  accompanied  his  father  to  the  woods  to 
get  some  wood.  They  went  with  their  wood-sled, 
and  after  cutting  a  load  and  loading  the  sled,  this 
little  hoy,  whose  name  was  Harry,  drove  it  home, 
while  his  father  cut  another  load.  He  had  a  fine 
team  of  horses,  and  returned  very  quickly,  when 
he  found  his  father  lying  prostrate  on  the  frozen 
snow,  under  the  large  limb  of  a  tree  he  had  felled 
during  his  absence,  which  had  caught  him  in  its 
fall,  and  thrown  him  to  the  ground.  He  was  cold 
and  stiff;  and  little  Harry,  finding  he  was  not  strong 
enough  to  relieve  him  from  his  position,  seized  his 
axe,  and  cut  off  the  limb,  and  then  rolled  it  off  of 
him.  He  then  tried  to  raise  him,  but  his  father 
was  dead,  and  his  feeble  efforts  were  all  in  vain. 
Although  he  was  out  in  the  far  woods  by  himself, 
and  had  never  before  seen  a  dead  person,  he  was 
nothing  daunted,  but  backed  his  sled  close  up  to 
his  father,  and  with  great  labor  got  his  body  on  it, 
and  placing  his  head  in  his  lap,  drove  home  to  his 
mother  as  fast  as  he  could.  The  efforts  of  his 
mother  to  reanimate  him  were  equally  vain  with 
his  own,  and  the  sorrowing  neighbors  came  and 
dug  him  a  grave  under  the  cold  snow,  and  laid  him 
quietly  to  rest.  His  mother  was  greatly  distressed 
at  the  loss  of  her  husband,  but  she  thanked  God, 
who  had  given  her  so  good  and  brave  a  son. 

"  You  and  Custis  must  take  great  care  of  your  kind 


1846.]          GENERAL    ROBERT    E.LEE.  35 

mother  and  dear  sisters,  when  your  father  is  dead. 
To  do  that,  you  must  learn  to  be  good.  Be  true, 
kind,  and  generous,  and  pray  earnestly  to  God  to 
enable  you  to  '  keep  his  commandments,  and  walk 
in  the  same  all  the  days  of  your  life.'  Alec  and 
Frank  are  well,  and  the  former  has  begun  to  ride 
his  pony  Jim,  again.  Captain  Bennett  has  bought 
his  little  boy  a  donkey,  and  as  I  came  home  I  met 
him  riding,  with  two  large  Newfoundland  dogs  fol- 
lowing, one  on  each  side.  The  dogs  were  almost 
as  large  as  the  donkey.  My  horse,  Jerry,  did  not 
know  what  to  make  of  them.  I  go  to  New  York 
now,  on  horseback,  every  day ;  one  day  I  ride 
Jerry,  and  the  next  Tom,  and  1  think  they  begin 
to  go  better  under  the  saddle  than  formerly.  1  hope 
to  come  on  soon,  to  see  that  little  baby  you  have 
got  to  show  me.  You  must  give  her  a  kiss  for  me, 
and  one  to  all  the  children,  and  to  your  mother  and 
grandmother.  Good-bye,  my  dear  son. 

"  Your  affectionate  father, 

"  R.  E.  LEE. 
"  To  WM.  H.  FITZHUGH  LICK, 

"  Arlington,  D.  C." 

General  Lee  told  an  interesting  little  incident 
connected  with  one  of  his  boys  (Custis),  which  we 
will  give  here. 

When  a  very  little  child,  his  father  took  him  to 
walk,  one  winters  day,  in  the  snow,  holding  him 
by  the  hand.  Soon  the  boy  dropped  behind.  Look- 
ing over  his  shoulder,  he  saw  Custis  imitating  his 
every  movement,  with  head  and  shoulders  erect, 


36  A    POPULA  R    I/IFE   OF  [1847. 

putting  his  little  feet  exactly  in  his  father's  foot- 
prints. "When  I  saw  this,"  said  the  General,  "  I 
said  to  myself,  '  It  behooves  me  to  walk  very 
straight,  when  this  fellow  is  already  following  in 
my  tracks.'" 


CHAPTER   III. 

The  Mexican  War  —  Letter  to  his  Sons —  Vera  Cruz  —  Cerro 
Gordo  —  Encomiums  of  General  Scott  —  Passage  of  the  Pedrigal 
—  Wounded  at  Cliapultepec —  Promotion. 

LIEUTENANT  LEE  was  now  to  exchange  the 
quiet  and  comparative  ease  of  garrison  life  for 
the  stirring  scenes  of  war.  The  difficulties  with 
Mexico  had  culminated  in  a  declaration  of  hos- 
tilities. 

Early  in  1847,  General  Scott  commenced  to  col- 
lect troops  on  the  Island  of  Lobos,  for  an  expedi- 
tion against  Vera  Cruz.  Captain  Lee  was  assigned 
to  the  central  army  in  Mexico,  as  Chief  Engineer 
under  General  Wool. 

The  following  letter,  written  at  this  time  to  his 
sons,  Custis  and  W.  II.  F.  Lee,  then  at  Arlington, 
will  be  read  with  interest  in  this  connection : 

"  SHIP  MASSACHUSETTS,  OFF  LOBOS, 

February  27th,  1847. 

"Mv  DEAR  BOYS:  —  I  received  your  letters  with 
the  greatest  pleasure,  and,  as  T  always  like  to  talk 


1847.]          GENERA  L    ROBERT   E.  LEE.  37 

to  you  both  together,  I  will  not  separate  you  in  my 
letters,  but  write  one  to  you  both.  I  was  much 
gratified  to  hear  of  your  progress  at  school,  and 
hope  that  you  will  continue  to  advance,  and  that  I 
shall  have  the  happiness  of  finding  you  much  im- 
proved in  all  your  studies,  on  my  return.  I  shall 
not  feel  my  long  separation  from  you,  if  I  find  that 
my  absence  has  been  of  no  injury  to  you,  and  that 
you  have  both  grown  in  goodness  and  knowledge, 
as  well  as  stature.  But  ah,  how  much  I  will  suffer 
on  my  return,  if  the  reverse  has  occurred !  You 
enter  into  all  my  thoughts,  in  all  my  prayers ;  and 
on  you,  in  part,  will  depend  whether  I  shall  be 
happy  or  miserable,  as  you  know  how  much  I  love 
you.  You  must  do  all  in  your  power  to  save  me 
pain.  You  will  learn,  by  my  letter  to  your  grand- 
mother, that  I  have  been  to  Tampico.  I  saw  many 
things  to  remind  me  of  you,  though  that  was  not 
necessary  to  make  me  wish  that  you  were  with  me. 
The  river  was  so  calm  and  beautiful,  and  the  boys 
were  playing  about  in  boats,  and  swimming  their 
ponies.  Then  there  were  troops  of  donkeys  carry- 
ing water  through  the  streets.  They  had  a  kind  of 
saddle,  something  like  a  cart-saddle,  though  larger, 
that  carried  two  ten-gallon  kegs  on  each  side,  which 
was  a  load  for  a  donkey.  They  had  no  bridles  on, 
but  would  come  along  in  strings  to  the  river,  and, 
as  soon  as  their  kegs  were  filled,  start  off  again. 
They  were  fatter  and  sleeker  than  any  donkeys  I 
had  ever  seen  before,  and  seemed  to  be  better  cared 
for.  I  saw  a  great  many  ponies,  too.  They  were 
larger  than  those  in  the  upper  country,  but  did  not 
4 


38  A    POPULAR    LIFE   OF  [1847. 

seem  so  enduring.  I  got  one  to  ride  around  the 
fortifications.  lie  had  a  Mexican  bit  and  saddle 
on,  and  paced  delightfully,  but  every  time  my  sword 
struck  him  on  the  flanks,  would  jump,  and  try  to 
run  oft'.  Several  of  them  had  been  broken  to  har- 
ness by  the  Americans,  and  I  saw  some  teams  in 
wagons,  driven  four-in-hand,  well  matched,  and 
trotting  well.  \\re  had  a  grand  parade  on  General 
Scott's  arrival.  The  troops  were  all  drawn  up  on 
the  bank  of  the  river,  and  h'red  a  salute  as  he  passed 
them,  lie  landed  at  the  market,  where  lines  of 
sentinels  wen-  placed  to  keep  off  the  crowd.  In 
front  of  the  landing  the  artillery  was  drawn  up, 
which  received  him  in  the  centre  of  the  column 
and  escorted  him  through  the  streets  to  his  lodg- 
ings. They  had  provided  a  handsome  gray  horse, 
richly  caparisoned,  for  him  to  ride,  but  he  preferred 
to  walk  with  his  staff  around  him,  and  a  dragoon 
led  the  horse  behind  us.  The  windows  along  the 
streets  we  passed  were  crowded  with  people,  and  the 
boys  and  girls  were  in  great  glee  —  the  Governor's 
Island  band  playing  all  the  time. 

"  There  were  six  thousand  soldiers  in  T ampico. 
Mr.  Barry  was  the  Adjutant  of  the  escort.  I  think 
you  would  have  enjoyed  with  me  the  oranges  and 
sweet  potatoes.  Major  Smith  became  so  fond  of 
the  chocolate  that  1  could  hardly  get  him  away 
from  the  house.  \Ve  only  remained  there  one  day. 
I  have  a  nice  state-room  on  board  this  ship.  Joe 
Johnston  and  myself  occupy  it,  but  my  poor  Joe  is 
so  sick  all  the  time,  I  can  do  nothing  with  him.  I 
left  Jem  to  come  on  with  the  horses,  as  I  was  afraid 


1847.]         GENERAL,   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  39 

they  would  not  be  properly  cared  for.  Vessels  were 
expressly  fitted  up  for  the  horses,  and  par  ies  of 
dragoons  detailed  to  take  care  of  thorn.  I  had 
hoped  they  would  reach  here  by  as  time,  as  I 
wanted  to  see  how  they  were  fixed.  I  took  every 
precaution  for  their  comfort,  provide*,  them  with 
bran,  oats,  etc.,  and  had  slings  made  tc  pass  under 
them  and  attach  the  coverings  above,  so  that,  if  in 
the  heavy  sea  they  should  slip,  or  be  thrown  oft' 
their  feet,  they  could  not  fall.  I  had  to  sell  my 
good  old  horse  '  Jim,'  as  I  could  not  find  room  for 
him,  or,  rather,  I  did  not  want  to  crowd  the  others. 
I  know  I  shall  want  him  when  I  land.  Creole  was 
the  admiration  of  every  one  at  Brazos,  and  they 
could  hardly  believe  she  had  carried  me  so  far  and 
looked  so  well.  Jem  says  there  is  nothing  like  her 
in  all  the  country,  and  I  believe  he  likes  her  better 
than  Tom  or  Jerry.*  The  sorrel  mare  did  not  ap- 
pear to  be  so  well  after  I  got  to  the  Brazos.  I  had 
to  put  one  of  the  men  on  her  whose  horse  had 
given  out,  and  the  saddle  hurt  her  back.  She  had 
gotten  well,  however,  before  I  left,  and  X  told  Jem 
to  ride  her  every  day.  I  hope  they  may  both  reach 
the  shore  again  in  safety,  but  I  fear  the}'  will  have 
a  hard  time.  They  will  first  have  to  be  put  aboard 
a  steamboat  and  carried  to  the  ship  that  lies  about 
two  miles  out  at  sea,  then  hoisted  in,  and  how 
we  shall  get  them  ashore  again  I  do  not  know. 
Probably  throw  them  overboard,  and  let  them 
swim  there.  I  do  not  think  we  shall  remain  here 
more  than  one  day  longer.  General  "Worth's  and 

*  Two  horses  that  lie  linil  at  Fort  Hamilton. 


A    POPULAR    LIFE   OF  [1847. 

Genei-il  Twiggs'  divisions  have  arrived,  which  in- 
clude '"he  regulars,  and  I  suppose  the  volunteers 
will  be  coining  on  every  day.  We  shall  probably 
go  on  the  firs'  1st)  down  the  coast,  select  a  place 
for  debarkation,  and  make  all  the  arrangements 
preparatory  for  the  arrival  of  the  troops.  I  shall 
have  plent;  to  do  there,  and  am  anxious  for  the 
time  to  come,  and  hope  all  may  be  successful.  Tell 
Rob  he  must  think  of  me  very  often,  be  a  good  boy, 
and  always  love  his  papa.  Take  care  of  Speck* 
and  the  colts.  Mr.  Sedgwick  and  all  the  officers 
send  their  love  to  you. 

"  The  ship  rolls  so  that  I  can  scarcely  write.  You 
must  write  to  me  very  often.  I  am  always  glad  to 
hear  from  you.  Be  sure  that  I  am  thinking  of  you, 
and  that  you  have  the  prayers  of 

"  Your  affectionate  father, 

"K.  E.  LEE. 

"  For  CUSTIS  and  W.  H.  F.  LEE,  Arlington." 

On  the  9th  of  March,  1847,  the  American  army 
landed  near  Vera  Cruz,  and  the  next  day  began  the 
investment  of  the  city.  The  work  was  commenced 
by  General  Worth,  and  was  carried  on  successfully. 
Batteries  with  siege  and  naval  guns  were  erected 
by  the  engineers  at  points  commanding  the  city. 

The  bombardment  began  on  the  22d  of  March, 
and  in  a  few  days  the  city  and  castle  surrendered. 

The  elder  brother  of  Captain  Lee,  Lieutenant 
Sidney  Smith  Lee,  a  gallant  officer  of  the  United 

*  A  little  terrier  who  was  a  great  pet. 


1847.]  GENERAL    ROBERT    E.  LEE.  41 

States  Navy,  served  also  in  the  siege  of  Vera  Cruz, 
commanding  a  detachment  of  seamen  who  were 
working  the  guns  in  the  trendies.  It  was  Captain 
Lee's  duty  as  an  engineer  to  direct  the  firing. 

He  has  often  been  heard  to  relate  how  he  saw  his 
brother's  white  teeth  gleaming  through  the  smoke, 
and  with  what  anxiety,  after  the  firing  of  each  gun, 
he  would  look  to  find  if  he  was  safe. 

Captain  Lee  rendered  important  services  during 
the  siege;  and  General  Scott,  quick  to  appreciate 
military  genius,  appointed  him  to  a  position  upon 
liis  personal  staff,  and  always  asked  his  opinion  in 
the  council,  attaching  great  importance  to  it. 

hi  the  Life  of  General  Scott,  written  by  himself, 
he  speaks  of  the  services  rendered  by  Captain  Lee 
during  this  siege,  saying:  "  I  am  compelled  to  make 
special  mention  of  Captain  R.  E.  Lee,  Engineer. 
This  officer  greatly  distinguished  himself  at  the 
siege  of  Vcra  Cruz." 

Indeed,  the  whole  of  his  career  in  Mexico  is 
marked  by  the  attention  he  obtained  from  his 
veteran  commander.  There  is  hardly  a  despatch  in 
which  his  name  is  not  honorably  mentioned. 

At  Cerro  Gordo,  General  Scott  wrote:  "I  am 
compelled  to  make  special  mention  of  Captain  R. 
E.  Lee,  Engineer.  This  ofKcer  was  again  inde- 
fatigable during  these  operations  in  reconnoissances, 
as  daring  as  laborious,  and  of  the  utmost  value. 
Nor  was  he  less  conspicuous  in  planning  batteries, 
4* 


42  APOPULARLIFEOF  [1847. 

and  in  conducting  columns  to  their  stations  under 
the  heavy  fire  of  the  enemy." 

During  one  of  these  rcconnoissances,  Captain 
Lee  ventured  so  far  from  his  supporting  column 
(Loring's  Rifles),  that  lie  found  himself  right  in 
amongst  the  enemy.  He  concealed  himself  under 
a  fallen  tree,  near  a  spring  where  the  Mexicans 
obtained  water.  While  he  lay  there,  Mexican 
soldiers  passed  and  repassed  over  the  tree,  and  even 
sat  down  upon  it,  without  discovering  him.*  He 
remained  until  night  enabled  him  to  retire  in 
safety. 

From  Cerro  (jordo  the  army  pushed  on  to  the 
capital.  The  direct  road  to  the  city  had  been  well 
fortitied,  but  these  defences  were  overcome,  and  the 
battles  of  Oontreras,  Cherubusco,  Molinos  del  Key, 
and  Chapultepec,  placed  the  city  of  Mexico  in  the 
hands  of  the  victorious  Americans. 

In  his  accounts  of  these  battles,  General  Scott 
says:  "  August  18th,  1847  —  A  reconnoissance  was 
commenced  to  the  left  of  San  Augustin,  tirst  over 
difficult  ground,  and  further  on  over  the  same  field 
of  volcanic  matter  which  extends  to  the  mountain. 

"  The  reconnoissanee  was  continued  to-day  by 
Captain  Lee,  assisted  by  Lieutenants  Beauregard 
and  Tower,  all  of  the  Engineers,  who  were  joined 
in  the  afternoon  by  Major  Smith,  of  the  same  corps, 

*  "I  am  reserved  for  some  grout  purpose,"  said  Clive,  in  his 
obscure  youth,  when  he  escaped  wonderfully  a  great  danger. 


1847.]  GENERAL  ROBERT   E.  LEE.  43 

and  other  divisions  coming  up,  Pillow  was  advanced 
to  make  a  practicable  road  for  heavy  artillery,  and 
Twiggs  thrown  farther  in  front  to  cover  the  opera- 
tions, for  by  the  partial  reconnoissance  of  yesterday, 
Captain  Lee  discovered  a  large  corps  of  observation 
in  that  direction,  with  a  detachment  of  which,  his 
supports  of  cavalry  and  foot,  under  Captain  Kearney 
and  Lieutenant-Colonel  Graham,  respectively,  had 
a  successful  skirmish." 

The  following  interesting  account  of  Captain 
Lee's  great  achievement,  the  "  Passage  of  the 
Pedrigal,"  is  given  by  a  distinguished  officer  of  the 
United  States  service.* 

"  On  the  19th  of  August,  1847,  General  Scott's 
headquarters  were  at  San  Augustin,  a  village  four 
or  five  miles  south  of  Churubusco.  The  main  road 
running  south  from  the  city  of  Mexico  forks  at 
Churubusco,  one  branch  leading  to  San  Augustin ; 
the  other,  running  in  a  south-westerly  direction, 
passes  a  little  to  the  east  of  the  village  of  Contreras, 
and  of  a  somewhat  elevated  Plateau  about  three- 
quarters  of  a  mile  beyond,  or  south  of  Contreras. 
The  distances  from  Churubusco  to  the  Plateau,  and 
from  the  Plateau  to  San  Augustin,  are  each  about 
equal  to  that  from  San  Augustin  to  Churubusco. 
The  triangular  space  included  between  the  roads, 
and  a  ridge  of  hills  south  of  San  Augustin,  as  the 

*  When  General  Scott  was  asked  what  was  the  most  daring 
achievement,  of  the  war,  he  said,  "  Lee's  crossing  the  Pedrigal  ;" 
and  General  Poinsett,  who  had  seen  the  Pedrigal,  said,  "  It  is 
true  ;  it  is  incredible." 


44  A    POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1847. 

third  side,  is  known  as  the  PedrigaL  This  Pedrigal 
is  a  vast  surface  of  volcanic  rocks  and  scoriae, 
broken  into  every  possible  form,  presenting  sharp 
ridges,  and  deep  fissures,  exceedingly  difficult  for 
the  passage,  even  in  the  day-time,  of  infantry,  and 
utterly  impassable  for  artillery,  cavalry,  or  single 
horsemen.  There  are  occasional  intervals,  especially 
near  San  Augustin,  where  small  fields  have  been 
made  and  tilled,  but  these  little  oases  grow  smaller 
and  more  infrequent  towards  the  west,  and  a  mile 
or  two  from  the  Plateau  cease  altogether,  so  that 
the  country  from  above  Contreras  to  the  ridge  of 
hills  on  the  south  is  an  almost  unbroken  field  of 
desolation,  such  as  lava  would  present  when  in  a 
state  of  violent  ebullition.  Indeed  it  appears  like 
a  sea  of  such  lava  suddenly  congealed,  with  here 
and  there  clumps  of  hardy,  thorny  bushes,  and 
dwarf-trees,  which  have  managed  to  force  an  ex- 
istence from  the  apparently  sterile  rock.  By  taking 
advantage  of  the  small  open  spaces,  a  difficult, 
crooked,  and  hardly  passable  road,  not  much  better 
than  a  mule  track,  had  been  opened  between  San 
Augustin  and  the  Plateau,  in  front  of  which  it 
joins  the  road  to  the  city  of  Mexico.  On  the 
Plateau,  General  Valencia  had  intrenched  his  fine 
division,  about  six  thousand  strong,  with  twenty- 
four  guns,  which  completely  commanded  the  ap- 
proach from  San  Augustin.  A  mile  or  more  north 
of  Contreras,  and  the  neighboring  hamlet  of  An- 
selda,  and  on  the  main  city  road,  lay  General  Santa 
Anna,  with  a  portion  of  the  reserves  of  the  Mexi- 
can army. 


1847.]  GENERAL    ROBERT    E.  LEE.  45 

"  On  the  morning  of  the  10th,  General  Scott 
ordered  Pillow's  and  Twiggs's  divisions  to  move 
from  San  Augustin  towards  the  Plateau,  the  ground 
having  heen  previously  reconnoitred  by  Captain 
R.  E.  Lee,  assisted  by  Lieutenants  Beauregard 
and  Tower,  of  the  Engineers.  Pillow  was  directed 
to  work  the  road  with  his  force,  and,  if  possible,  to 
make  it  practicable  for  artillery.  Twiggs  was 
thrown  in  advance  to  cover  the  working  parties. 
General  Scott,  in  his  official  report,  written  that 
same  day,  says : 

"  '  By  three  o'clock,  this  afternoon,  the  advanced 
divisions  came  to  a  point  where  the  new  road  could 
only  be  continued  under  the  direct  fire  of  twenty- 
two  pieces  of  the  enemy's  artillery  (most  of  them 
of  large  calibre),  placed  in  a  strong  intrenched 
camp,  to  oppose  our  operations;  and  surrounded 
by  every  advantage  of  ground,  besides  immense 
bodies  of  cavalry  and  infantry,  hourly  reinforced 
from  the  city,  over  an  excellent  road  beyond  the 
volcanic  field,  and  consequently  entirely  beyond  the 
reach  of  our  cavalry  and  artillery. 

"  '  Arriving  on  the  ground  an  hour  later,  I  found 
that  Pillow's  and  Twiggs's  divisions  had  advanced 
to  dislodge  the  enemy,  picking  their  way  (all  officers 
on  foot)  along  his  front,  and  extending  themselves 
towards  the  road  from  the  city  and  the  enemy's 
left  .  .  .  The  battle,  though  mostly  stationary,  con- 
tinued to  rage  with  great  violence  until  nightfall.' 

"  In  the  meantime,  portions  of  Riley's,  Persifer 
Smith's,  Shields's,  and  Cadwallader's  brigades,  had 
made  their  way  across  the  Pcdrigal  to  Contreras, 


46  A    POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1847. 

whence  they  watched  the  approach  of  the  Mexican 
troops  from  the  city.  Captain  Lee  accompanied 
these  troops,  and  the  nature  of  the  ground  can,  per- 
haps, best  be  understood  from  the  description  given 
of  it  by  one  who  passed  over  it  at  the  time. 

"  He  says  :  '  Late  in  the  morning  of  the  19th,  the 
brigade  to  which  my  regiment  was  attached  (Riley's) 
was  sent  out  from  San  Augustin  in  the  direction 
of  Contreras.  We  soon  struck  a  region  over  which 
it  was  said  no  horses  could  go,  and  men  only  with 
great  difficulty.  No  road  was  available,  my  regi- 
ment was  in  advance,  my  company  leading,  and  its 
point  of  direction  was  a  church-spire  near,  or  at 
Oontreras.  Taking  the  lead,  we  soon  struck  the 
Pedrigal —  a  field  of  volcanic  rock,  like  boiling 
scoriae  suddenly  solidified,  pathless,  precipitous, 
and  generally  compelling  rapid  gait,  in  order  to 
spring  from  point  to  point  of  rock,  on  which  two 
feet  could  not  rest,  and  which  cut  through  our 
shoes.  A  fall  upon  this  sharp  material  would  have 
seriously  cut  and  injured,  whilst  the  effort  to  climb 
some  of  it  cut  the  hands.  Such  was  the  general 
character  of  the  part  crossed  by  my  regiment,  and 
I  believe  by  the  brigades,  though  many,  not  push- 
ing as  I  did,  may  have  picked  out  a  circuitous  and 
better  route.  Just  before  reaching  the  main  road 
from  Contreras  to  the  city  of  Mexico,  we  reached  a 
watery  ravine,  the  sides  of  which  were  nearly  per- 
pendicular, and  up  which  I  had  to  be  pushed,  and 
bad  to  pull  others.  On  looking  back  over  this  bed 
of  lava  or  seorise,  I  saw  the  troops,  much  scattered, 
very  slowly  picking  their  way,  while  of  my  own 


1847.]  GENERAL   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  47 

company  (about  eighty  or  ninety  strong)  only  five 
men  crossed  with  me,  or  for  some  twenty  minutes 
after.  With  these  five  I  examined  the  country 
beyond,  and  struck  upon  small  guards  of  a  pay- 
master's park  —  which,  from  the  character  of  the 
country  over  which  we  had  passed,  was  deemed 
perfectly  safe  from  capture.  My  men  gained  a  pay- 
master's chest,  well  filled  with  bags  of  silver  dollars; 
the  firing  and  fuss  we  made  frightened  the  guard, 
with  the  belief  that  the  infernals  were  upon  them, 
and  hastened  our  own  men  to  our  support. 

"  '  Before  sundown,  all  of  Riley's,  and  I  believe  of 
Cadwallader's,  Smith's,  and  Pierce's  brigades,  were 
over,  and  by  nine  o'clock  a  council  of  war,  pre- 
sided over  by  Persifer  Smith,  and  counselled  by 
Captain  R.  E.  Lee,  was  held  at  the  church.  I 
have  always  understood  that  what  was  devised,  and 
finally  decided  upon,  was  advised  by  Captain  Lee  — 
at  all  events,  it  was  closed  by  his  saying  that  he 
desired  to  return  to  General  Scott,  with  the  deter- 
mination of  General  Smith ;  and  as  it  was  late,  the 
decision  must  be  given  soon;  that  General  Scott 
wished  him  to  return  in  time  to  give  directions  for 
co-operation. 

"  *  During  the  council,  and  for  hours  after,  the  rain 
fell  in  torrents,  and  the  darkness  was  intense  —  one 
could  move  only  by  groping.  To  illustrate:  my 
company  again  led  to  gain  the  Mexican  rear,  after 
nearly  two  hours  of  motion,  when  light  broke  suf- 
ficiently to  enable  us  to  see  a  companion  a  few  feet 
off;  we  had  moved  not  four  hundred  yards,  and 
the  only  persons  present,  after  a  few  minutes,  were 
half  a  dozen  officers  and  one  guide. 


48  A    POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1847. 

" '  Captain  Lee  left  the  council  to  join  General 
Scott.  History  gives  him  the  credit  of  succeeding, 
but  it  has  always  seemed  incredible  to  me,  with  the 
distance,  the  dangers  of  that  Pedrigal  to  be  over- 
come, amid  such  darkness  and  storm,  unaccom- 
panied, I  believe,  by  lightning.  Scarcely  a  step 
could  have  been  taken  without  fear  of  death,  —  but 
that  to  him,  a  true  soldier,  was  the  willing  risk  of 
duty  in  such  a  cause.  I  would  not  believe  it  could 
have  been  made  —  that  passage  of  the  Pedrigal  — 
if  he  had  not  said  he  made  it.' 

"  General  Scott,  in  the  report  from  which  we  have 
already  quoted,  says  of  this  same  night : 

" '  It  was  already  dark,  and  the  cold  rain  had  begun 
to  fall  in  torrents  on  our  unsheltered  troops.  Wet, 
hungry,  and  without  the  possibility  of  sleep,  all  our 
gallant  corps,  I  learn,  are  full  of  confidence,  and 
only  wait  for  the  last  hour  of  darkness  to  gain  the 
positions  whence  to  storm  and  carry  the  enemy's 
works.  Of  the  seven  officers  dispatched  since  about 
sundown,  from  my  position  opposite  to  the  enemy's 
centre,  and  on  this  side  of  the  field  of  rocks  and 
lava,  to  communicate  instructions  to  the  hamlet 
[Contreras],  not  one  has  succeeded  in  getting 
through  those  difficulties,  increased  by  darkness. 
They  have  all  returned.  But  the  gallant  and  inde- 
fatigable Captain  Lee,  of  the  Engineers,  who  has 
been  constantly  with  the  operating  forces,  is  just  in 
from  Shields,  Smith,  Cadwallader,  &c.,  to  report  as 
above,  and  to  ask  that  a  powerful  diversion  be  made 
against  the  centre  of  the  intrenched  camp,  to-mor- 
row morning. 


1847.]  GENERAL   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  49 

"  '  Brigadier-General  Twiggs,  cut  off  as  above  from 
the  part  of  his  division  beyond  the  impracticable 
ground;  and  Captain  Lee,  are  gone,  under  my 
orders,  to  collect  the  forces  remaining  on  this  side, 
with  which  to  make  that  diversion  about  five  o'clock 
in  the  morning.'  * 

"  The  troops  were  collected,  the  diversion  made, 
and  the  result  of  the  combined  movement,  made 
possible  only  by  Captain  Lee's  services,  was  the 
brilliant  victory  of  Centre ras,  early  on  the  follow- 
ing morning. 

"  Subsequently,  General  Scott,  whilst  giving  testi- 
mony before  a  Court  of  Inquiry,  had  occasion  to 
refer  to  these  operations,  and  he  thus  speaks  of  the 
service  rendered  on  this  occasion  by  Captain  Lee  : 

"  '  Captain  Lee,  Engineers,  came  to  me  from  the 
hamlet,  with  a  message  from  Brigadier-General 
Smith,  I  think,  about  the  same  time  [midnight],  he 
having  passed  over  the  difficult  ground  by  day- 
light, found  it  just  possible  to  return  to  San  Augue- 
tin  in  the  dark;  the  greatest  feat  of  physical  and  moral 
courage  performed  by  any  individual,  in  my  knowledge, 
pending  the  campaign.' 

"  When  we  remember  that  Captain  Lee  left  the 
council-room  at  Contreras  to  pass  over  miles  of 
such  ground  as  we  have  described,  in  a  pitch-dark 
night,  without  light,  without  a  companion  or  a 
guide,  with  the  additional  danger  to  those  we  have 
named,  that,  if  he  wandered  but  little  from  his  way 
toward  the  right,  he  would  fall  into  the  hands  of 

*  Executive  Doc.,  No.  Go  (Senate),  30th  Congress,  1st  Session, 
p.  73. 

6  D 


60  A    POPULAR    LIFE   OF  [1847. 

Valencia,  if  to  the  left,  into  those  of  Santa  Anna; 
the  risks  also  of  falling  in  with  straggling  parties 
of  Mexicans,  some  of  which  we  have  seen  here  in 
the  Pedrigal ;  that  he  had  nothing  to  guide  him  on 
his  way  but  the  direction  of  the  wind,  as  it  beat  the 
torrents  of  cold  rain  upon  his  face,  and  perhaps  an 
occasional  flash  of  lightning  to  give  him  a  momen- 
tary glimpse  of  the  country  around  him  :  it  will  be 
acknowledged  that  General  Scott,  considering  the 
object  for  which  this  was  done,  the  manner  of  doing 
it,  and  the  results,  has  characterized  this  deed  of 
devotion  by  the  only  terms,  exalted  as  they  are, 
that  could  appropriately  describe  it. 

"II.  J.  H." 

At  Chapultepec  Captain  Lee  was  wounded.  His 
skill  and  bravery  had  contributed  essentially  to  the 
great  achievement  which  closed  the  campaign. 

In  his  official  report  of  this  battle,  General  Scott 
pays  a  high  compliment  to  Captain  Lee,  who  was, 
he  declares,  "as  distinguished  for  felicitous  execu- 
tion, as  for  science  and  daring ;  "  and  he  says  fur- 
ther :  "  Captain  Lee,  so  constantly  distinguished,  also 
bore  important  orders  from  me  (September  13th), 
until  he  fainted  from  a  wound,  and  the  loss  of  two 
nights'  sleep  at  the  batteries." 

Years  after,  General  Scott  was  heard  to  declare, 
"  Lee  is  the  greatest  military  genius  in  America." 

Captain  Lee  was  twice  promoted  for  his  services 
in  Mexico.  In  1847  he  was  brevetted  Major  for 
gallant  and  meritorious  conduct  in  the  battle  of 


1847.] 


O  E  N  E  R  A  L    ROBERT    E  .  I,  E  E  . 


51 


Cerro  Gordo,  and  later  was  made  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  by  Bre- 
vet, for  his  con- 
duct at  Contre- 
ras  and  Cheru- 
busco. 

It  has  been 
remarked  l)y 
many  of  the  of- 
ficers who  serv- 
ed with  him  in 
this  campaign, 
that  so  popular 
was  Robert  E. 
Lee,  that  no 
one  in  the  army 
was  jealous  of 
his  promotion, 

CAPTAIN  LEE, 
bllt  all  ackllOW-  Winded «< 

ledged  his  title  to  it,  and  rejoiced  in  the  honors 
bestowed  upon  him. 


52  A    POPULAR    LIFE   OF  [1855. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

Close  of  the  War — Stationed  near  Baltimore — Placed  in  charge 
of  the  Military  Academy  at  West  Point  —  Transferred  to  the 
Cavalry  —  Ordered  to  Texas  —  Indian  Warfare  —  Letters  to  his 
Family  —  Hardships  of  Frontier  Service  —  Return  to  Arlington. 

AT  the  close  of  the  war,  Colonel  Lee  was  ap- 
pointed member  of  the  Board  of  Engineers, 
and  stationed  at  Sellers  Point,  near  Baltimore. 
Engaged  in  the  construction  of  Fort  Calhoun,  he 
was  occupied  with  that  work  until  made  Superin- 
tendent of  the  Military  Academy  at  West  Point  in 
1852.  Here  he  remained  three  years.  During  his 
administration,  the  course  of  study  was  extended  to 
five  years,  and  various  improvements  were  made  in 
the  Academy  and  its  surroundings.  Colonel  Lee 
built  the  fine  Riding  Hall,  made  the  fine  road,  the 
wharf,  and  other  improvements. 

In  1855,  when  several  new  cavalry  regiments 
were  organized,  he  was  commissioned  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  of  the  second  cavalry.  This  regiment  was 
commanded  by  Colonel  Albert  Sidney  Johnston, 
and  it  is  remarkable  as  having  given  many  officers* 

*  Major  William  .1.  Hardee,  Major  George  H.  Thomas;  Cap- 
tains Carl  Van  Porn,  Kirhy  Smith ;  Lieiitennnts  Hood,  Field, 
Cosby.  Fitzhugh  Lee,  Johnson,  Stoneman,  and  Palmer, — who  all 
became  general  officers  on  the  Southern  side,  except  Thomas  and 
the  three  last-named,  who  became  prominent  generals  in  the 
Federal  army. 


1856.]  GENERAL    UOIJEUT    E.   LEE.  53 

of  high  rank  to  both  sides  in  the  war  which  has 
lately  terminated,  and  for  having  furnished  more 
generals  than  any  regiment  of  the  old  army. 

For  several  years  it  was  employed  in  Texas  against 
the  Indians,  and  Colonel  Leo  bore  an  active  part  in 
this  warfare,  greatly  distinguishing  himself  in  one 
of  the  most  desperate  battles. 

From  his  own  memorandum-book  we  learn  that 
he  "  left  Alexandria,  February  12th,  1856,  ...  on 
my  way  to  rejoin  my  regiment,"  &c. 

March  1st,  1856.     Reached  Galveston. 

March  6th.  Reached  San  Antonio  at  five  P.  M., 
and  took  up  my  quarters  with  Mrs.  P.,  in  the 
Plaza. 

March  7th.  Commenced  preparations  for  journey 
to  Fort  Mason. 

March  21st.     Left  at  ten  A.  M.,  for  Fort  Mason. 

March  25th.  Arrived  at  Fort  Mason  eleven  A.  M., 
twenty  miles  from  our  camp ;  reported  my  arrival 
to  Colonel  A.  S.  Johnston. 

March  27th.  Received  orders  from  Colonel  John- 
ston to  repair  to  Camp  Cooper,  and  assume  com- 
mand of  the  first  and  fifth  squadrons  of  the  regi- 
ment there  stationed. 

April  9th,  1856.  Reached  Camp  Cooper,  situated 
in  the  Camanche  Reserve,  on  the  Clear  Fork  of  the 
Brazos,  thirty-five  miles  from  its  mouth,  about  two 
miles  above  the  Indian  Agency. 

Lodges  of  the  Indians  situated  on  the  left  bank 

5* 


54  A    POPULAR    LIFE   OF  [1856. 

of  the  river.     Catumseh,  chief  of  the  tribe,  resides 
on  the  reserve. 

The  following  letters,  written  to  one  of  his  family 
at  this  time,  will  give  some  idea  of  the  arduous  duty 
to  which  he  was  here  assigned,  and  of  his  senti- 
ments on  points  of  great  interest  already  beginning 
to  agitate  the  country  : 

"  CAMP  COOPER, 

"  On  the  Clear  Fork  of  the  Brazos, 
"  12th  April,  1856. 

" Colonel  Hardee,  whom  I  relieve  at  this 

place,  goes  on  Monday  to  Fort  Mason.  I  am  very 
sorry  to  part  with  him.  Four  companies  are 
stationed  here  under  Captains  Van  Dorn,  Stone- 
man,  O'Hara,  and  Whiting.  We  are  on  the  Ca- 
manche  Reserve,  with  the  Indian  camps  below  us 
on  the  river,  belonging  to  Catumseh's  band,  whom 
the  Government  is  endeavoring  to  humanize.  It 
will  be  up-hill  work,  I  fear.  Catumseh  has  been  to 
see  me,  and  we  have  had  a  talk,  very  tedious  on  his 
part,  and  very  sententious  on  mine.  I  hailed  him 
as  a  friend,  as  long  as  his  conduct  and  that  of  his 
tribe  deserved  it,  but  would  meet  him  as  an  enemy 
the  first  moment  he  failed  to  keep  his  word.  The 
rest  of  the  tribe  (about  a  thousand,  it  is  said)  live 
north  of  us,  and  are  hostile.  Yesterday  I  returned 
his  visit,  and  remained  a  short  time  at  his  Lodge. 
He  informed  me  that  he  had  six  wives.  They  are 
riding  in  and  out  of  camp  all  day,  their  paint  and 
'  ornaments '  rendering  them  more  hideous  than 
nature  made  them,  and  the  whole  race  is  extremely 


1856.]  GENERAL    ROBERT    E.LEE.  55 

uninteresting Wo  have   si  nightly 

serenade  from  the  wolves/' 

The  memorandum-book  says: 
"  On  the  13 th  —  assumed  command  of  the  post. 
Reviewed  and  inspected  the  command." 

On  the  28th  of  July  he  writes : 

"  I  have  just  returned  from  my  expedition  into 
the  Camanche  country;  had  a  long  trip  of  forty 
days,  and  traversed  the  separate  columns,  1,600 
miles  of  country.  The  main  column,  which  I 
accompanied,  travelled  eight  hundred  miles.  We 
visited  the  head-waters  of  the  Wachita  and  Bra- 
zos rivers,  the  Double  Mountains,  and  all  the 
branches  of  the  Double  Mountain  Fork,  and  in 
five  separate  columns  (on  our  return)  swept  down 
the  valleys  of  the  Coneha,  the  Colorado,  and 
Red  Fork,  to  the  Sausaba  country,  and  Pecan 
Bayou.  We  could  find  no  Indians,  and  all  the 
traces  of  them  were  old.  The  country  had  been 
fired  in  many  places,  and  in  some  places  it  was  still 
burning  and  abandoned.  At  this  season  of  the  year 
the  Indians  are  generally  north  of  the  Arkansas, 
hunting  Buffalo.  We  came  up  with  a  small  party, 
four  men  and  one  woman,  whom  we  had  traced  for 
nearly  two  hundred  miles.  The  men  were  killed, 
and  the  woman  captured,  by  the  advance,  their 
horses,  thirteen  in  number,  and  all  their  property, 
taken.  The  woman  I  have  sent  to  the  tribe  below 
us,  where  her  father  resides.  These  were  the  only 
Indians  seen. 

"  The  weather  was  intensely  hot,  and  as  we  had 


56  A    POPULAR    LIFE   OF  [1856. 

no  tents,  we  had  the  full  hem-tit  of  the  sun.  The 
men  were  generally  healthy,  though  the  water  was 
scarce  and  had,  salt,  sweet,  bitter,  and  brackish.  I 
have  enjoyed  good  health." 

"  CAMP  COOPER,  August  4th,  1856. 

"  ....  I  hope  your  father  enjoyed  his  usual 
celebration  of  the  4th  of  July.  My  fourth  was  spent 
(after  a  march  of  thirty  miles)  on  a  branch  of  the 
Brazos,  under  my  blanket,  which  was  elevated  on 
four  sticks  driven  in  the  ground  —  as  a  sun-shade. 

"  The  sun  was  fiery  hot.  The  atmosphere  like  the 
blast  from  a  hot-air  furnace,  the  water  salt;  still  my 
feelings  for  my  country  were  as  ardent,  my  faith  in 
her  future  as  true,  and  my  hopes  for  her  advance- 
ment as  unabated,  as  if  called  forth  under  more  pro- 
pitious circumstances. 

"  The  weather  still  continues  hot  and  dry,  with  no 
prospect  of  rain,  and  our  hopes  for  a  few  cabbage- 
plants  and  roasting  ears  have  passed  away. 

"  We  must  bear  it.  The  worst  is,  that  the  Clear 
Fork  no  longer  deserves  its  title,  but  is  converted 
into  fetid  stagnant  pools.  However,  we  enjoy  good 
health,  have  plenty  of  meat  and  bread,  and  have 
great  cause  for  gratitude." 

On  the  25th  of  the  same  month,  lie  writes  from 
Camp  Cooper: 

'  .  .  .  .  T  shall  leave  here  on  the  1st  proximo,  as 
before  stated,  for  the  Kio  Grande,  and  shall  be 
absent  in  all  probability  from  two  and  a  half  to 
three  months. 


1856.]  GENERAL    ROBERT    E.LEE.  57 

"  You  must  write  regularly,  as  usual,  and  I  will  do 
the  same  by  every  opportunity.  .  .  . 

"  I  shall  have  to  pass  through  San  Antonio  going 
and  returning  —  will  go  from  here  to  Fort  Mason, 
pick  up  Major  Thomas  and  take  him  travelling  with 
me,  and  thus  shall  have  a  companion  all  the  way, 
which  will  be  a  great  comfort  to  me. 

"  I  received  to-day  notice  (through  my  spies)  that  a 
party  of  Camanches  who  have  been  on  a  marauding 
expedition  to  Mexico,  which  is  a  cloak  to  cover  all 
their  thefts  and  murders,  are  endeavoring  to  get 
around  our  camp  on  their  way  north,  and  are  some 
fifteen  miles  below.  They  have  separated  into 
gangs  of  six,  eight,  and  ten,  to  escape  detection.  I 
am  in  the  act  of  sending  out  a  company  of  cavalry 
to  endeavor  to  catch  them,  which  I  hope  may  be 
successful.  I  should  go  myself  but  for  my  forced 
journey  to  the  Rio  Grande,  and  as  I  have  directed, 
they  must  be  followed  twenty  days  if  not  sooner 
come  up  with.  I  might  be  detained  too  late  should 
I  go. 

"  These  people  give  a  world  of  trouble  to  man  and 
horse,  and,  poor  creatures  !  they  are  not  worth  it." 

The  memorandum-book  next  tells  us  : 

"  Sept.  2d.  Left  Camp  Cooper  for  Ringgold  Bar- 
racks to  attend  a  court-martial. 

Sept.  3(M.  Court  adjourned  to  Fort  Brown,  Texas. 
Nov.  4th.     Landed  at  Fort  Brown." 

Next  in  date  comes  a  pleasant  picture  of  his 
peaceful  life  and  pursuits. 


58  A    POPULAR    LIFE   OF  [1856. 

"  FORT  BROWN,  TEXAS,  December,  1856. 

" The  time  is  approaching,  dear  M , 

when  I  trust  that  many  of  you  will  be  assembled 
around  the  family  hearth  of  dear  Arlington  to  cele- 
brate another  Christmas.  Though  absent,  my  heart 
will  be  in  the  midst  of  you.  I  shall  enjoy  in  imagi- 
nation and  memory  all  that  is  going  on.  May  noth- 
ing occur  to  mar  or  cloud  the  family  fireside,  and 
may  .each  one  be  able  to  look  with  pride  and  pleas- 
ure to  their  deeds  of  the  past  year,  and  with  con- 
fidence and  hope  to  that  in  prospect.  I  can  do 
nothing  but  love  and  pray  for  you  all."  .... 

" I  am  able  to  give  you  but  little  news, 

as  nothing  of  interest  transpires  here,  and  I  rarely 
see  any  one  outside  the  garrison.  My  daily  walks 
are  alone,  up  and  down  the  banks  of  the  river,  and 
my  pleasure  is  derived  from  my  own  thoughts  and 
from  the  sight  of  the  flowers  and  animals  I  there 
meet  with.  The  birds  of  the  Kio  Grande  form  a 
constant  source  of  interest,  and  are  as  numerous  as 
they  are  beautiful  in  plumage.  I  wish  I  could  get 
for  you  the  roots  of  some  of  the  luxuriant  vines  that 
cover  everything,  or  the  seeds  of  the  innumerable 
flowers. 

"We  get  plenty  of  papers,  but  all  of  old  dates. 
Things  seem  to  be  going  on  as  usual  in  the  States. 
Mr.  Buchanan,  it  appears,  is  to  be  our  next  Presi- 
dent. I  hope  he  will  be  able  to  extinguish  fanati- 
cism North  and  South,  cultivate  love  for  the  coun- 
try and  Union,  and  restore  harmony  between  the 
different  sections.  I  am  anxious  to  see  who  will  be 
the  Secretary  of  War."  .  .  . 


1856.]  GENERAL,    ROBERT    E.   LEE.  59 

"FORT  BROWN,  TEXAS,  27th  Dec.,  1856. 

" I  liavc  just  received  the  Alexandria 

Gazette  from  the  20th  Nov.  to  the  18th  Dee.  in- 
clusive. Besides  the  usual  good  reading-matter,  I 
am  interested  in  the  relation  of  local  affairs,  and  in- 
fer, from  the  quiet  and  ordinary  course  of  events, 
that  all  is  going  on  well,  especially  (I  hope)  at  Ar- 
lington. 

"  The  steamer  also  brought  the  President's  Mes- 
sage, the  reports  of  the  various  heads  of  Departments, 
&c.,  &c.,  so  that  we  are  assured  the  government  is 
in  operation  and  the  Union  in  existence 

"  I  was  much  pleased  with  the  President's  Mes- 
sage. His  views  of  the  systematic  and  progressive 
efforts  of  certain  people  at  the  North  to  interfere 
with  and  change  the  domestic  institutions  of  the 
South  are  truthfully  and  faithfully  expressed.  The 
consequences  of  their  plans  and  purposes  are  also 
clearly  set  forth.  These  people  must  he  aware  that 
their  object  is  both  unlawful  and  foreign  to  them 
and  to  their  duty,  and  that  this  institution  for 
which  they  are  irresponsible  and  unaccountable, 
can  only  be  changed  by  them  through  the  agency 
of  a  civil  and  servile  war. 

"  There  are  few,  I  believe,  in  this  enlightened  age, 
who  will  not  acknowledge  that  slavery  as  an  institu- 
tion is  a  moral  and  political  evil  in  any  country.  It 
is  useless  to  expatiate  on  its  disadvantages.  I  think 
it  a  greater  evil  to  the  white  than  to  the  black  race. 
While  my  feelings  are  strongly  enlisted  in  behalf 
of  the  latter,  my  sympathies  are  more  strong  for 


60  A    POPULAR    LIFE   OP  [1856. 

the  former.  The  blacks  are  immeasurably  better 
off  here  than  in  Africa,  morally,  physically,  and 
socially.  The  painful  discipline  they  are  under- 
going is  necessary  for  their  further  instruction  as  a 
race,  and  I  hope  will  prepare  them  for  better  things. 
How  long  their  servitude  may  be  necessary  is  known 
and  ordered  by  a  Merciful  Providence.  Their  eman- 
cipation will  sooner  result  from  the  mild  and  melt- 
ing influences  of  Christianity,  than  from  the  storms 
and  tempests  of  fiery  controversy.  This  influence, 
though  slow,  is  sure.  The  doctrines  and  miracles 
of  our  Saviour  have  required  nearly  two  thousand 
years  to  convert  but  a  small  portion  of  the  human 
race,  and  even  among  Christian  nations  what  gross 
errors  still  exist !  While  we  see  the  course  of  the 
final  abolition  of  human  slavery  is  still  onward,  and 
give  it  the  aid  of  our  prayers,  and  all  justifiable 
means  in  our  power,  Ave  must  leave  the  progress  as 
well  as  the  result  in  His  hands  who  sees  the  end; 
who  chooses  to  work  by  slow  influences;  with  whom 
two  thousand  years  are  but  as  a  single  day.  Although 
the  Abolitionist  must  know  this,  must  know  that  he 
has  neither  the  right  nor  the  power  of  operating, 
except  by  moral  means,  and  that  to  benefit  the  slave, 
he  must  incite  angry  feelings  in  the  Master;  that, 
although  he  may  not  approve  the  mode  by  which 
Providence  accomplishes  its  purpose,  the  result  will 
still  be  the  same,  that  the  reasons  he  gives  for  inter- 
ference in  what  he  has  no  concern  with,  holds  good 
with  every  kind  of  interference  with  our  neighbor; 
still  I  fear  he  will  persevere  in  his  evil  course. 
" Is  it  not  strange  that  the  descendants 


1857.]  GENERAL   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  61 

of  those  pilgrim  fathers  who  crossed  the  Atlantic  to 
preserve  their  own  freedom  of  opinion  have  always 
proved  themselves  most  intolerant  of  the  spiritual 
liberty  of  others? 

"  I  hope  you  all  had  a  joyous  Christmas  at  Arling- 
ton, and  that  it  may  he  long  and  often  repeated.  I 
thought  of  you  and  wished  to  be  with  you.  Mine 
was  gratefully  but  silently  passed.  I  endeavored  to 
find  some  presents  for  the  children  in  the  garrison, 
and  succeeded  better  than  I  anticipated.  The  stores 
were  very  barren,  but  by  taking  them  the  week  be- 
forehand in  my  daily  walks,  I  picked  up  something 

for   all.      Tell  M I  found  a  beautiful  Dutch 

doll  for  little  Emma,  one  of  those  crying  babies  that 
can  open  and  shut  its  eyes.  For  two  others,  hand- 
some French  teapots  to  match  their  cups.  Then 
with  knives  and  books  I  satisfied  the  boys.  After 
this,  went  to  church,  then  by  previous  invitation, 
Major  Thomas  and  I  dined  with  the  clergyman, 
Mr.  Passmore,  on  roast  turkey  and  plum  pudding. 

God  bless  you  all ! 

"Yours,        R.  E.  LEE." 

"  FORT  BROWN,  January,  1857. 

"  ....  I  hear  that  my  young  Lieutenants  have 
been  very  successful  during  my  absence.  Captains 
Bradfute  and  Johnson,  Lieutenants  Jenifer  and 
Wetherell,  have  at  different  times  intercepted  ma- 
rauding parties  of  Indians,  and  chastised  them  se- 
verely. Upwards  of  a  dozen  in  the  four  encounters 
were  killed,  and  more  wounded,  and  all  their  horses, 
animals,  camp-equipage,  &c.,  captured.  It  is  a  dis- 
6 


62  A    POPULAR   LIFE   OP  [1857. 

tressing  state  of  things  that  requires  the  application 
of  such  treatment;  hut  it  is  the  only  corrective  they 
understand,  the  only  way  in  which  they  can  he 
brought  to  keep  -within  their  own  limits.  Two  of 
our  men  were  killed,  shot  through  the  breast  with 
arrows  ;  and  three  or  four  wounded." 

The  next  date  in  the  memorandum-book  tells 
us  :  "  FeVy  6th,  1857.  Iteturned  to  San  Antonio. 
Ordered  to  another  Court  Martial  at  Indianola. 

"  March  30//<.     lleturned  to  San  Antonio. 

"  April  18th.     To  Camp  Cooper." 

From  the  latter  port  he  writes : 

"  June  22,  1857. 

"  There  is  little  to  relate.  The  hot  weather  seems 
to  have  set  in  permanently.  The  thermometer 
ranges  above  100°  ;  but  the  sickness  among  the 
men  is  on  the  decrease,  though  there  has  been  an- 
other death  among  the  children.  lie  was  as  hand- 
some a  little  boy  as  I  ever  saw  —  the  son  of  one  of 
our  sergeants,  about  a  year  old;  I  was  admiring  his 
appearance  the  day  before  he  was  taken  ill.  Last 
Thursday  his  little  waxen  form  was  committed  to 
the  earth.  His  father  came  to  me,  the  tears  flowing 
down  his  cheeks,  and  asked  me  to  read  the  funeral 
service  over  his  body,  which  I  did  at  the  grave  for 
the  second  time  in  my  life.  I  hope  I  shall  not  be 
called  on  again,  for,  though  I  believe  it  is  far  better 
for  the  child  to  be  called  by  its  Heavenly  Creator 
into  His  presence  in  its  purity  and  innocence,  un- 
polluted by  sin  and  un contaminated  by  the  vices  of 
the  world,  still  it  so  wrings  a  parent's  heart  with 


1857.]  GENERAL,   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  63 

anguish   that  it  is  painful  to  see.     Yet  I  know  it 
was  done  in  mercy  to  both,  mercy  to  the  child, 
mercy  to  the  parents.     The  former  has  been  saved 
from  sin  and  misery  here;  and  the  latter  have  been 
given  a  touching  appeal  and  powerful  inducement 
to  prepare  for  hereafter.     May  it  prove  effectual, 
and  may  they  require  no  further  severe  admonition. 
"May  God  guard  and  bless  you  all ! 
"  Truly  and  affectionately  yours, 

"R.  E.  LEE." 

A  few  days  later,  June  29th,  he  says  : 

".  .  Since  I  last  wrote  (22d  June),  nothing  of  conse- 
quence has  occurred.  It  was  excessively  hot  yester- 
day. At  2  P.  M.  the  thermometer  stood  at  112°. 
Kept  at  the  Hospital  Tent,  the  coolest  place  we 
have.  The  range  of  the  mercury  is  recorded  every 
day. 

"  We  had  an  alarm  that  a  body  of  Indians  were 
coming  down  from  the  North,  to  attack  our  camp 
and  the  Indians  on  the  reserve.  The  news  was 
brought  by  two  Camanches.  The  Indian  camp  was 
in  great  excitement,  and  they  kept  their  horses  sad- 
dled all  night,  but  I  confess  I  was  incredulous,  and 
went  to  bed  with  no  expectation  of  being  disturbed; 
now  their  apprehensions  have  subsided." 

From  the  "  memorandum  "  we  go  on  to  quote  : 

"  July  23d.  Express  comes  from  San  Antonio, 
bringing  orders  for  Colonel  Johnston  to  report  in 
person  at  Washington,  and  to  turn  over  the  com- 
mand to  me,  ordering  me  to  San  Antonio. 


64  A    POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1857. 

July  27th.     Arrived  at  San  Antonio. 

August  1st.  Took  possession  of  the  house 
vacated  by  Colonel  Johnston — having  taken  com- 
mand of  the  regiment  the  28th  October. 

October  2,1st.  Received  telegraphic  notice  of  the 
death  of G.  W.  P.  Custis.  ...  Re- 
linquished command  to  Major  Thomas,  prepared  to 
return  home. 

November  llth.     Reached  Arlington." 

One  of  the  officers  who  served  with  him  at  this 
time,  says,  in  writing  of  him :  "  In  Texas,  where 
Colonel  Lee  succeeded  Colonel  Albert  Sidney  John- 
ston as  commandant  of  the  department,  he  ex- 
amined everything  thoroughly  and  continuously, 
until  master  of  every  detail,  ever  too  conscientious 
to  act  under  imperfect  knowledge  of  any  subject 
submitted  to  him.  And  with  all  his  stern  sense  of 
duty  he  attracted  the  love,  admiration,  and  confi- 
dence of  all.  The  little  children  always  hailed  his 
approach  with  glee  —  his  sincerity,  kindliness  of 
nature,  and  cordial  manners,  attracting  their  unre- 
served confidence."  *, 


1859.]  GENERAL   ROBERT  E.  LEE.  65 


CHAPTER   V. 

The  John  Brown  War  —  Return  to  Texas  —  Letters  to  his  Family 
—  The  gathering  Storm  —  Summoned  to  Washington  —  Seces- 
sion of  Virginia — The  Sad  Alternative — Resigns  his  Com- 
mission—  Farewell  to  General  Scott — To  his  Sister — His 
Reticence. 

IN  the  autumn  of  1859,  Colonel  Lee  was  recalled 
to  Washington,  and  there  ordered  to  take  part 
in  the  "  John  Brown.  War,"  as  it  was  termed. 

In  Colonel  Lee's  "  Memorandum-Book  "  the  fact 
is  thus  noted : 

"17th  Oct.,  1859.  Received  orders  from  the 
Secretary  of  War,  in  person  to  repair  in  evening- 
train  to  Harper's  Ferry. 

"  Reached  Harper's  Ferry  at  11  p.  M 

"  Posted  the  Marines  in  the  U.  S.  Armory.  .  .  . 

"  Waited  until  daylight,  as  a  number  of  citizens 
were  held  as  hostages,  whose  lives  were  threatened. 
Tuesday,  about  sunrise,  with  twelve  marines  under 
Lieut.  Green,  broke  in  the  door  of  the  engine- 
house,  secured  the  insurgents,  and  released  the 
prisoners  unhurt.  All  the  insurgents  killed  or 
mortally  wounded,  but  four,  John  Brown,  Stevens, 
Coppie,  and  Shields." 

John  Brown,  who  had  obtained  great  notoriety 
in  the  troubles  in  Kansas  between  the  Pro-slavery 

6*  K 


66  A   POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1859. 

and  the  Anti-slavery  parties,  came  to  Virginia  to 
excite  an  insurrection  among  the  slaves,  thinking, 
with  the  aid  promised  him  from  Canada  and  else- 
where, to  destroy  that  institution  throughout  the 
South. 

With  sixteen  whites  and  live  negroes  he  seized 
the  Government  armory,  arsenal,  and  rifle-factory  at 
Harper's  Ferry,  and  threw  the  inhabitants  of  the 
town  and  country  into  the  greatest  consternation. 

The  news  spread  over  the  country,  greatly  ex- 
aggerated; and  the  Government  took  immediate 
measures  to  suppress  the  insurrection.  General 
Scott  being  absent  from  Washington,  the  Secretary 
of  War  sent  for  Colonel  Lee,  as  the  most  trusted 
officer  of  the  army,  who  was  dispatched  with  a  bat- 
talion of  marines  to  Harper's  Ferry,  where  already 
the  militia  of  the  neighboring  counties  had  as- 
sembled. 

The  insurgents  had  taken  prisoner  some  of  the 
principal  citizens,  and  with  them  had  retired  to  the 
"  engine-house  "  in  the  armory  yard. 

Colonel  Lee  surrounded  the  b-uilding  with  his 
marines,  and  sent  his  aid  Lieutenant  J.  E.  B.  Stuart 
with  a  flag  of  truce,  to  demand  a  surrender,  prom- 
ising to  protect  the  insurgents  from  the  violence 
of  the  citizens,  and  to  secure  them  a  trial  according 
to  law.  These  terms  were  refused  by  Brown,  who 
demanded  to  be  permitted  to  march  out  with  his 
men,  arms,  and  prisoners,  to  be  allowed  to  go  un- 


1859.]  GENERAL   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  67 

molested  as  far  as  the  second  toll-gate,  where  he 
would  free  his  prisoners,  and  was  then  willing  to 
fight  the  troops,  if  he  could  not  escape  from  them. 

This  proposition  could  not  be  listened  to.  Lieu- 
tenant Stuart  then  remonstrated  with  the  insurgents 
upon  the  folly  of  their  course.  Insensible  to  his 
appeals,  they  announced  their  determination  to  kill 
the  hostages,  so  soon  as  they  were  themselves 
attacked.  Among  the  prisoners  was  Colonel  Lewis 
Washington,  of  that  neighborhood,  whose  voice 
was  heard,  "  Never  mind  m  —  fire  !  "  Colonel  Lee 
is  said  to  have  remarked,  upon  hearing  these  words, 
"  The  old  revolutionary  blood  does  tell." 

It  had  been  agreed  upon  between  Colonel  Lee 
and  his  Lieutenant,  that  in  the  event  of  the  insur- 
gents proving  inexorable,  Lieutenant  Stuart  should 
raise  his  arm  as  a  signal,  when  the  marines  would 
rush  upon  the  door  of  the  engine-house,  through 
which  the  parleying  took  place,  and  by  the  sudden- 
ness of  their  attack  so  occupy  the  insurgents,  as  to 
save  the  lives  of  the  prisoners.  This  was  happily 
accomplished.  The  marines  captured  the  building, 
and  the  hostages  were  released  from  their  perilous 
position  unharmed.  Several  of  the  insurgents  were 
wounded,  among  them  Brown  himself.  But  for 
the  precautions  of  Colonel  Lee,  there  is  no  doubt 
that  these  men  would  have  experienced  hard  treat- 
ment at  the  hands  of  the  excited  citizens. 

lie  at  once  telegraphed  to  Washington  for  in- 


68  A    POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1860. 

structions,  and  was  directed  to  deliver  his  prisoners 
to  the  District  Attorney  for  the  District  of  Co- 
lumbia. 

From  the  memorandum-book  we  learn : 

"  February  9th,  1860.  Received  general  orders, 
No.  2,  from  the  Headquarters  of  the  Army  assign- 
ing me  to  duty  according  to  my  Brevet  rank,  and 
directing  me  to  assume  the  command  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Texas. 

February  10th.     At  six  A.  M.,  left  Arlington,  &c. 

February  19th.  Reached  San  Antonio,  and  took 
lodgings  with  Mrs.  P.,  in  the  Plaza. 

February  2Qth.  Assumed  command  of  Depart- 
ment of  Texas. 

March  16th.  Finished  arrangements  preparatory 
to  departure  to  Rio  Grande.  Left  San  Antonio  at 
noon,  and  encamped  on  the  Medina. 

March  16th.  Continued  my  route ;  report  hav- 
ing reached  me  that  Cortinas  *  was  ascending  the 
Rio  Grande ;  altered  my  march,  &c. 

March  2Qth.  Could  get  no  account  of  Cortinas's 
whereabouts,  or  learn  that  he  had  ever  ascended 
the  Rio  Grande,  higher  than  La  Mesa,  &c. ;  re- 
sumed march,  &c. 

March  31st.     Reached  Ringgold  Barracks. 

April  3d.  Followed  the  river-road  to  Browns- 
ville  

April  10th.     Resumed  journey;   nearly   all   the 

*  Cortinas  was  a  notorious  brigand. 


I860.]  GENERAL   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  69 

ranches  on  the  road  have  been  burned.  Those 
spared  by  Cortinas,  burned  by  the  Rangers,  &c. 

April  \\th.  Resumed  journey ;  reached  the  scene 

of  Cortinas's  defeat  by  Major  Ileintzelman 

Reached  Fort  Brown,  A.  M." 

The  following  letter,  of  date  May  2d,  Fort  Brown, 
gives  a  more  particular  account  of  his  movements: 

"  When  I  last  wrote,  dear  M ,  I  thought  I 

should  have  been  on  my  way  to  San  Antonio,  indeed 
had  prepared  to  leave  some  days  ago,  wagons  were 
greased,  mules  foraged,  and  men  provisioned ;  but 
the  day  before  I  was  to  have  started,  rumors  came 
that  Cortinas  had  returned  to  the  vicinity  of  the 
Rio  Grande,  and  yesterday  the  report  was  so  straight 
that  I  laid  a  plan  to  take  him  by  surprise;  have  sent 
two  detachments  across  the  river  to  attempt  it.  ... 
If  he  should  give  us  the  slip,  or  should  the  report 
prove  a  false  alarm,  I  will  commence  my  journey  to 
San  Antonio,  and  leave  the  troops  to  watch  and 
punish  him  if  possible." 

The  journal  resumes : 

"  May  7th.  Have  been  engaged  corresponding 
with  the  Mexican  authorities;  succeed  in  getting 
them  to  issue  orders  for  the  arrest  of  Cortinas.  .  .  . 
He  has  left  the  frontier  and  withdrawn  to  the  Ceritos 
with  his  property,  horses,  &c. 

May  8th.  Commenced  my  journey  to  San  An- 
tonio. 

May  VJth.  Reached  San  Antonio  —  distance  264 
miles. 


70  A    POPULAR    LIFE   OP  [1861. 

December   19#t.      Left  for   headquarters   of    ray 
regiment.  ..... 

December  22<L     Readied  Ft.  Mason." 

In  a  letter  written  at  this  time  he  says : 

"  I  am  far  from  comfortable  in  my  present  situa- 
tion, though  I  feel  that  I  have  more  than  I  deserve. 
My  present  position  being  but  accidental,  I  have 
not  thought  it  best  to  incur  the  expense  of  estab- 
lishing myself,  and  am  therefore  boarding." 

"  FORT  MASOK,  TEXAS,  23d  January,  1861. 

"  I  received  Everett's  '  Life  of  Washington,' 
which  you  sent  me,  and  enjoyed  its  perusal.  How 
his  spirit  would  be  grieved  could  he  see  the  wreck 
of  his  mighty  labors.  I  will  not,  however,  permit 
myself  to  believe,  until  all  the  ground  for  hope  is 
gone,  that  the  fruit  of  his  noble  deeds  will  be  de- 
stroyed, and  that  his  precious  advice  and  virtuous 
example  will  so  soon  be  forgotten  by  his  country- 
men. As  far  as  I  can  judge  by  the  papers,  we  are 
between  a  state  of  anarchy  and  civil  war.  May 
God  avert  both  of  these  evils  from  us !  I  fear  that 
mankind  for  years  will  not  be  sufficiently  christian- 
ized to  bear  the  absence  of  restraint  and  force.  I 
see  that  four  States  have  declared  themselves  out  of 
the  Union ;  four  more  will  apparently  follow  their 
example.  Then,  if  the  border  States  are  brought 
into  the  gulf  of  revolution,  one  half  of  the  country 
will  be  arrayed  against  the  other.  I  must  try  and 
be  patient  and  await  the  end,  for  I  can  do  nothing 
to  hasten  or  retard  it."  . 


1861.]  GENERAL   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  71 

The  last  entries  made  in  this  memorandum-book 
are  as  follows : 

"February  13<A,  1861.  Relinquished  command  of 
the  regiment,  Second  Cavalry,  and  in  compliance 
with  Department  Special  Orders  No.  16,  took  my 
departure  from  Fort  Mason  and  commenced  my 
journey  to  Washington  City,  to  report  to  the  Com- 
mander-in-chief. 

1.6th.     Reached  San  Antonio 

22d.     Arrived  at  Indianola 

25^A.     Reached  New  Orleans. 

March  1st.  Arrived  in  Alexandria;  took  a  car- 
riage and  reached  Arlington." 

We  have  seen  with  what  interest  and  apprehension 
Colonel  Lee,  from  his  remote  post  in  northwestern 
Texas,  noted  the  approaching  storm,  but  took  no 
part  in  the  agitations  which  excited  the  country. 

The  election  of  Abraham  Lincoln  to  the  Presi- 
dency by  the  Republican  or  Anti-slavery  party, 
alarmed  the  South,  and  early  in  1861,  seven  of  the 
Southern  States  withdrew  from  the  Union  and 
formed  a  new  confederacy,  which  was  termed  the 
"  Confederate  States  of  America." 

For  a  long  time,  Virginia  clung  to  the  Union, 
exhausting  every  means  in  her  poAver  to  preserve 
peace ;  but  finding  that  troops  were  to  be  sent  to 
compel  obedience,  and  being  directed  to  furnish  her 
quota  of  these  troops,  she  took  sides  with  the  South, 
and  in  this  course  was  followed  by  others  of  the 
slaveholdinff  "Border  States." 


72  A   POPULAR  LIFE  OP  [1861. 

At  this  crisis,  the  men  of  each  section  who  had 
been  scattered  abroad,  engaged  in  different  occupa- 
tions, rushed  to  the  old  homes  where  had  been  left 
family  and  friends.  Southern  men  who  had  lived 
happily  a  lifetime  in  the  North,  hurried  back  to  the 
place  of  their  birth,  and  Northern  men  dwelling 
South  felt  the  same  devotion  prompting  them  to 
side  with  their  section  in  the  approaching  conflict. 

To  none  did  this  separation  bring  so  painful  a 
struggle  between  inclination  and  duty,  as  to  the  offi- 
cers of  the  army  and  navy,  and  to  no  individual  a 
greater  struggle  than  to  Colonel  Lee.  "For  more 
than  a  quarter  of  a  century  he  had  served  with  dis- 
tinction in  the  Federal  Army,  in  which,  in  the 
opinion  of  both  the  army  and  the  country,  he  held 
only  the  second  position."  *  He  was  expected  by 
all  to  be  the  successor  to  General  Scott,  and  was 
bound  to  him  by  the  strongest  ties  of  affection  and 
respect.  If  he  remained  in  the  Federal  Army,  the 
highest  honors  awaited  him.  The  President  of  the 
United  States  sent  one  of  his  Cabinet  to  offer  him 
the  command  of  the  army,f  and  General  Scott  used 
all  his  great  influence  to  induce  him  to  remain. 

On  the  18th  of  April,  Colonel  Lee  was  summoned 
to  Washington  by  President  Lincoln,  when  his  in- 
terview with  Mr.  Blair  took  place.  He  then  bade 
farewell  to  his  old  commander,  who  was  much 

*  Lee  and  his  Campaigns. 

f  Statement  of  Hon.  Montgomery  Blair. 


1861.]  GENERAL   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  73 

affected,  and  who  parted  from  him  with  the  words, 
"  Lee,  you  have  made  the  greatest  mistake  of  your 
life;  but  I  feared  it  would  be  so." 

Colonel  Lee's  feelings  are  best  explained  by  him- 
self in  the  following  letter  to  General  Scott,  which 
accompanied  his  resignation  as  an  officer  in  the 
United  States  Army: 

"  ARLINGTON,  VA.,  April  20th,  1861. 

"  GENERAL  :  —  Since  my  interview  with  you  on 
the  18th  inst.,  I  have  felt  that  I  ought  not  to  retain 
my  commission  in  the  army.  I  therefore  tender 
my  resignation,  which  I  request  you  will  recom- 
mend for  acceptance.  It  would  have  been  pre- 
sented at  once  but  for  the  struggle  it  has  cost  me 
to  separate  myself  from  a  service  to  which  I  have 
devoted  all  the  best  years  of  my  life,  and  all  the 
ability  I  possessed. 

"  During  the  whole  of  that  time,  more  than  a 
quarter  of  a  century,  I  have  experienced  nothing 
but  kindness  from  my  Superiors,  and  the  most  cor- 
dial friendship  from  my  comrades.  To  no  one, 
General,  have  I  been  as  much  indebted  as  to  your- 
self for  uniform  kindness  and  consideration ;  and 
it  has  always  been  my  ardent  desire  to  merit 
your  approbation.  I  shall  carry  to  the  grave  the 
most  grateful  recollections  of  your  kind  consid- 
eration ;  and  your  name  and  fame  will  always  be 
dear  to  me. 

"  Save  in  defence  of  my  native  State,  I  never  de- 
sire again  to  draw  my  sword.  Be  pleased  to  accept 
my  most  earnest  wishes  for  the  continuance  of  yojir 

7 


74  A   POPULAR  LIFE  OF  [1861. 

happiness  and  prosperity,  and  believe  me  most 
truly  yours,  R.  E.  LEE. 

"  Lieutenant-General  WINFIELD  SCOTT, 

Commanding  United  States  Army." 

A  copy  of  the  preceding  letter  was  enclosed  in 
the  following  one  to  his  sister,  Mrs.  A.  M.,  of  Bal- 
timore. 

"  ARLINGTON,  VA.,  April  20th,  1861. 

"MY  DEAR  SISTER:  —  I  am  grieved  at  my  in- 
ability to  see  you I  have  been  waiting 

for  a  '  more  convenient  season,'  which  has  brought 
to  many  before  me  deep  and  lasting  regret.  Now 
we  are  in  a  state  of  war  which  will  yield  to  noth- 
ing. The  whole  South  is  in  a  state  of  revolution, 
into  which  Virginia,  after  a  long  struggle,  has  been 
drawn;  and  though  I  recognize  no  necessity  for 
this  state  of  things,  and  would  have  forborne  and 
pleaded  to  the  end  for  redress  of  grievances,  real  or 
supposed,  yet,  in  my  own  person,  I  had  to  meet  the 
question  whether  I  should  take  part  against  my 
native  State. 

"With  all  my  devotion  to  the  Union,  and  the 
feeling  of  loyalty  and  duty  of  an  American  citizen, 
I  have  not  been  able  to  make  up  my  mind  to  raise 
my  hand  against  my  relatives,  my  children,  my 
home.  I  have,  therefore,  resigned  my  commission 
in  the  army,  and,  save  in  defence  of  my  native 
State,  with  the  sincere  hope  that  my  poor  services 
may  never  be  needed,  I  hope  I  may  never  be  called 
on  to  draw  my  sword.  I  know  you  will  blame  me ; 
but  you  must  think  as  kindly  of  me  as  you  can, 


1861.]  GENERAL   ROBERT  E.  LEE.  75 

and  believe  that  I  have  endeavored  to  do  what  I 
thought  right.  To  show  you  the  feeling  and 
struggle  it  has  cost  me,  I  send  a  copy  of  my  letter 

of  resignation.     I  have  no  time  for  more 

May  God  guard  and  protect  you  and  yours,  and 
shower  upon  you  everlasting  blessings,  is  the  prayer 
of  your  devoted  brother,  II.  E.  LEE." 

In  the  meantime,  Virginia  had  passed  her  ordi- 
nance of  secession,  April  17th,  1861 ;  but,  from  cir- 
cumstances well  known  at  the  time,  the  fact  was 
concealed  for  some  days.  Before  the  decision  of 
his  State  was  known  to  him,  on  Monday  the  22d, 
Colonel  Lee  sent  in  his  resignation.  A  deputation 
came  to  invite  him  to  take  command  of  the  State 
forces,  and  on  the  same  day  he  left  the  home  he  was 
never  again  to  see,  and  repaired  to  Richmond. 

Great  must  have  been  the  sense  of  duty,  and 
sublime  the  struggle,  which  resulted  in  this  deci- 
sion. Not  only  did  he  sacrifice  honors  and  distinc- 
tion, his  private  fortune,  the  military  associations, 
which  were  so  dear  to  him,  but  he  knew  that  suf- 
fering and  privation  were  before  him,  that  the 
name  of  traitor  would  be  applied  to  him  by  the 
Government  he  had  served  so  well,  and  that  he 
would  lose  many  of  the  best  friends  of  his  early  life 
and  manhood.  Whenever  a  man  acts  conscien- 
tiously, from  a  sincere  conviction  of  duty,  a  just 
world  gives  credit  for  his  motives,  and  describes  his 
conduct  as  generous  and  noble,  whatever  may  have 


76  A   POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1861. 

been  the  error  of  his  decision.  Judged  even  by  this 
rule,  Colonel  Lee's  adhesion  to  his  native  State,  on 
her  declaration  of  war,  was  a  noble  action,  because 
it  could  not  have  been  determined  by  a/ny  other 
consideration  than  that  of  duty,  and  sacrificed  to 
that  sense  the  meaner  questions  of  fortune.* 

He  has  been  charged  with  having  influenced  other 
Southern  men  to  leave  the  United  States  Army,  but 
nothing  can  be  further  from  the  truth  than  this  as- 
sertion. One  of  his  old  comrades  in  the  United 
States  service  writes :  "  Immediately  upon  the  elec- 
tion of  Mr.  Lincoln,  I  wrote  in  the  confidence  of 
our  long  friendship,  to  ask  his  advice,  and  to  inquire 
what  would  be  his  course,  without  eliciting  any 
reply,  and  we  all  remarked,  that,  great  as  we  had 
"ever  found  his  reticence  in  expressing  himself  upon 
all  matters  connected  with  the  Government,  and 
punctilious  as  had  been  his  observance  of  every 
duty  connected  with  his  commission,  it  was  even 
more  noticeable  at  this  crisis." 

In  the  address  delivered  in  Richmond,  November 
3d,  1870,  by  Mr.  Jefferson  Davis,  he  mentions  an 
incident  which  further  illustrates  the  extreme  deli- 
cacy and  nice  sense  of  honor  which  distinguished 
Robert  E.  Lee.  Mr.  Davis  says :  "  While  stationed 
in  Baltimore  as  captain  of  engineers,  the  Cuban 
Junta  selected  Captain  Lee  to  be  their  leader  in  the 
struggle  for  the  independence  of  their  native  coun- 

*  Lee  and  his  Lieutenants. 


1861.]  GENERAL   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  77 

try.  They  were  anxious  to  secure  his  services,  and 
ottered  him  every  temptation  that  ambition  could 
desire.  He  thought  the  matter  over,  and  came  to 
Washington  to  consult  me  as  to  what  he  should 
do ;  and  when  I  began  to  discuss  the  complication 
which  might  arise  from  his  acceptance  of  the  trust, 
he  gently  rebuked  me,  saying  that  this  was  not  the 
line  upon  which  he  wished  my  advice ;  the  simple 
question  was  '  whether  it  was  right  or  not '  ?  He 
had  been  educated  by  the  United  States,  and  felt  it 
wrong  to  accept  a  place  in  the  army  of  a  foreign 
power.  But  when  Virginia  withdrew,  the  State  to 
which  he  owed  his  first  and  last  allegiance,  the 
same  nice  sense  of  honor  led  him  to  draw  his 
sword  and  throw  it  in  the  scale  for  good  or  for 
evil." 


78 


A    POPULAR    LIFE    OF 


[1861. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

Lee  in  Richmond  —  Appointed  Commander-ill  Chief  of  the  Vir- 
ginia Forces  —  Presented  to  the  Virginia  Convention  —  Address 
of  President  Januey  —  Organization  of  an  Army  —Appointed 
General  in  the  Confederate  Service  —  Ordered  to  Western  Vir- 
ginia. 


HEAT  joy  was  felt  in  Richmond  when  it  was 
known  that  Colonel  Lee  had  given  his  name 
and  military  talents  to  the  cause  of  Virginia.  Im- 
mediately upon  his  arrival,  the  Governor  nominated 
him  as  Major-General,  with  the  command  of  the 
forces  already  organized  in  Virginia,  and  the  State 
Convention  unanimously  confirmed  the  nomination. 

On  the  23d 
of  April,  Gen- 
eral Lee  was 
presented  to 
the  Convention 
by  the  chair- 
man of  the  Mil- 
itary commit- 
tee. The  cer- 
emony took 
place  in  the 
main  hall  of 
the  c  a  p  i  t  o  1. 
The  hall  was 

OKN.  LEF  Rmivr.n  BT  THE  VIRGINIA  CONVENTION.      Cl'Owded       Wltll 


1861.]          GENERAL   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  79 

an  audience  eager  to  sec  the  man  to  whom  Virginia 
had  thus  intrusted  her  destinies.  All  the  members 
of  the  Convention  rose  as  lie  advanced  to  the  centre 
of  the  main  aisle. 

The  president  of  the  Convention,  Mr.  Janney, 
then  addressed  the  new  Commander -in- Chief, 
Major-General  Lee. 

"In  the  name  of  the  people  of  our  native  State, 
here  represented,  I  bid  you  a  cordial  and  heart- 
felt welcome  to  this  hall,  in  which  we  may  almost 
hear  the  echoes  of  the  voices  of  the  statesmen,  the 
soldiers,  and  sages  of  by-gone  days,  who  have 
borne  your  name,  and  whose  blood  now  flows  in 
your  veins. 

"  We  met  in  the  month  of  February  last,  charged 
with  the  solemn  duty  of  protecting  the  rights,  the 
honor,  and  the  interests  of  the  people  of  this  Com- 
monwealth. 

"  We  differed  for  a  time  as  to  the  best  means  of 
accomplishing  that  object,  but  there  never  was,  at 
any  moment,  a  shade  of  difference  among  us  as  to 
the  great  object  itself;  and  now,  Virginia  having 
taken  her  position,  so  far  as  the  power  of  this  Con- 
vention extends,  we  stand  animated  by  one  impulse, 
governed  by  one  desire  and  one  determination,  and 
that  is,  that  she  shall  be  defended,  and  that  no  spot 
of  her  soil  shall  be  polluted  by  the  foot  of  an  in- 
vader. 

"When  the  necessity  became  apparent  of  having 
a  leader  for  our  forces,  all  hearts  and  all  eyes,  by 
the  impulse  of  an  instinct,  which  is  a  surer  guide 


80  A    POPULAR    LIFE   OF  [1861. 

than  reason  itself,  turned  to  the  old  county  of  West- 
moreland. We  knew  how  prolific  she  had  been  in 
other  days  of  heroes  and  statesmen.  We  knew  she 
had  given  birth  to  the  father  of  his  country,  to 
Richard  Henry  Leu;,  to  Monroe,  and  last,  though 
not  least,  to  your  own  gallant  father,  and  we  knew 
well,  by  your  deeds,  that  her  productive  power  was 
not  yet  exhausted. 

"  Sir,  we  watched  with  the  most  profound  and 
intense  interest  the  triumphal  march  of  the  army 
led  by  General  Scott,  to  which  you  were  attached, 
from  Vera  Cruz  to  the  capital  of  Mexico.  We 
read  of  the  sanguinary  conflicts,  and  the  blood- 
stained fields,  in  all  of  which  victory  perched  upon 
our  own  banners.  We  knew  of  the  unfading  lustre 
that  was  shed  upon  the  American  arms  by  that 
campaign,  and  we  know,  also,  what  your  modesty 
has  always  disclaimed,  that  no  small  share  of  the 
glory  of  those  achievements  was  due  to  your  valor 
and  your  military  genius. 

"  Sir,  one  of  the  proudest  recollections  of  my  life 
will  be  the  honor  that  I  yesterday  had  of  submit- 
ting to  this  body  the  confirmation  of  the  nomination, 
made  by  the  Governor  of  this  State,  of  you  aa 
Commander-in-Chief  of  the  military  and  naval 
forces  of  this  Commonwealth.  I  rose  to  put  the 
question  ;  and  when  I  asked  if  this  body  would 
advise  and  consent  to  that  appointment,  there 
rushed  from  the  hearts  to  the  tongues  of  all  the 
members  an  affirmative  response,  which  told,  with 
an  emphasis  that  could  leave  no  doubt,  of  the  feel- 
ing whence  it  emanated.  I  put  the  negative  of  the 


1861.]  GENERAL   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  81 

question  for  form's  sake,  but  there  was  an  unbroken 
silence. 

"  Sir,  we  have  by  this  unanimous  vote  expressed 
our  convictions  that  you  are  at  this  clay,  among  the 
living  citizens  of  Virginia, '  first  in  war.'  We  pray 
to  God  most  fervently  that  you  may  so  conduct  the 
operations  committed  to  your  charge  that  it  may 
soon  be  said  of  you  that  you  are  '  first  in  peace ; ' 
and  when  that  time  comes,  you  will  have  earned 
the  still  prouder  distinction  of  being  '  first  in  the 
hearts  of  your  countrymen.' 

"Yesterday,  your  mother,  Virginia,  placed  her 
sword  in  your  hand,  upon  the  implied  condition, 
that  we  know  you  will  keep  to  the  letter  and  in 
spirit,  that  you  will  draw  it  only  in  defence,  and 
that  you  will  fall  Avith  it  in  your  hand  rather  than 
the  object  for  which  it  was  placed  there  shall  fail." 

To  this,  General  Lee  made  this  short  and  simple 
reply : 

"Mr.  President  and  gentlemen  of  the  Convention  : 
Profoundly  impressed  with  the  solemnity  of  the 
occasion,  for  which  I  must  say  I  was  not  prepared, 
I  accept  the  position  assigned  me  by  your  partiality. 
I  would  have  much  preferred  your  choice  had  fallen 
upon  an  abler  man.  Trusting  in  Almighty  God, 
an  approving  conscience,  and  the  aid  of  my  fellow- 
citizens,  I  devote  myself  to  the  service  of  my  native 
State,  in  whose  behalf  alone  will  I  ever  again  draw 
my  sword." 

General  Lee  was  at  this  time  in  the  prime  and 


82  A   POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1861. 

vigor  of  manhood,* —  his  figure  finely  shaped  and 
firmly  knit,  his  face  of  remarkable  beauty,  and 
lighted  by  dark  eyes,  as  expressive  of  intellect  as 
of  gentleness  and  benignity.  No  one  could  look 
upon  him  without  admiration,  —  no  one  know  him 
without  loving  and  respecting  him. 

His  manners  were  graceful,  and  habitually  grave 
and  dignified,  though  on  proper  occasions  kind  and 
even  playful.  His  modesty  was  always  conspicuous, 
yet  there  shone  about  him  a  just  consciousness  of 
power,  purpose,  and  position. 

General  Lee  at  once  set  himself  to  work  to  or- 
ganize the  State  forces,  and  to  put  the  country  in  a 
condition  of  defence. 

Each  day  brought  men  from  every  part  of  Vir- 
ginia, and  from  the  different  States  of  the  South. f 

About  thirty  thousand  men  were,  in  the  early  part 
of  May,  collected  in  Virginia.  To  organize  and 
distribute  these  wherever  the  movements  of  the 
enemy  might  demand  their  presence,  was  the 
weighty  task  of  the  new  commander. 

He  performed  an  incredible  amount  of  labor, 
looking  into  the  most  minute  details,  and,  as  one  of 
his  biographers  says,  "  made  the  reputation  of  a 

*  He  was  fifty-three  years  of  age. 

f  The  nucleus  of  that  army,  which,  a  celebrated  Northern  his- 
torian says,  "stimulated  by  State  pride  and  home  love,  which,  in 
addition  to  the  Confederate  sentiment,  animated  those  vast  quotas 
of  admirable  soldiers  whom  Virginia  poured  forth  unstintingly, 
filling  up  the  gaps  till  all  were  gone." 


1861.]  GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE.  83 

skilful  organizer  of  armies  before  he  commenced 
the  career  of  active  commander  in  the  field." 

After  the  assembling  of  the  Confederate  Con- 
gress in  Richmond,  July,  18G1,  General  Lee  was 
made  a  full  General  in  the  Confederate  service, 
ranking  next  to  General  Albert  Sydney  Johnston ; 
the  list  being,  —  Cooper,  Albert  Sydney  Johnston, 
Lee,  Joseph  E.  Johnston,  and  Beauregard.  In  the 
following  month,  he  was  ordered  to  take  command 
of  the  forces  in  Western  Virginia,  a  difficult  and 
disagreeable  field  of  service,  which  he  cheerfully 
undertook,  in  accordance  with  the  feeling  which 
influenced  him  when  he  declared,  "  I  am  ready  to 
take  any  position  the  country  assigns  to  me,  and  do 
the  best  I  can." 

This  was  the  secret  of  his  successes :  he  always 
did  "his" best,"  thinking  nothing  which  he  under- 
took too  small  to  be  done  faithfully. 


84  A  POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1861. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

Gloucester  Point  —  Great  Bethel  —  Manassas  —  Letter  to  his 
Family  —  Campaign  in  Western  Virginia  —  Causes  of  Failure 
—  His  Magnanimous  Silence  —  Services  on  the  Sea-Coast  — 
Letters  to  his  Daughters  —  Assigned  to  Duty  at  the  Seat  of 
Government. 

BEFORE  entering  upon  the  account  of  General 
Lee's  campaign  in  Western  Virginia,  a  brief 
survey  of  the  progress  of  the  war  in  other  parts 
of  the  State  will  he  nccessar}7.  It  has  been  re- 
marked upon  as  a  curious  coincidence  that  almost 
the  first  gun  fired  in  Virginia,  Avas  at  Gloucester 
Point,  opposite  Yorktown,  which  is  memorable  as 
the  spot  where  the  war  of  the  Revolution  ended. 

The  first  real  engagement  took  place  at  Great 
Bethel,  on  the  10th  of  June.  The  Confederate 
troops,  consisting  of  eighteen  hundred  infantry  and 
six  pieces  of  artillery,  under  Colonel  Magruder, 
successfully  opposed  a  Federal  force  of  about  four 
thousand  men,  with  powerful  artillery,  under  Gen- 
eral Butler. 

The  former  occupied  an  imperfectly  intrenched 
position,  between  Yorktown  and  Hampton,  and  the 
Federal  forces  advanced  upon  them  from  Fortress 
Monroe.  This  battle,  though  insignificant  as  re- 
gards the  number  of  troops  engaged,  was  of  great 
importance  to  the  Confederates,  as  in  case  of  defeat 


1861.]  GENERAL,   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  85 

a  way  would  have  been  opened  to  Richmond  over 
the  Peninsula.  It  was  also  a  source  of  great  en- 
couragement to  the  South,  as  it  showed  the  pos- 
sibility of  coping  successfully  with  unequal  num- 
bers, a  disadvantage  that  from  the  great  strength 
of  the  North  they  had  always  reason  to  expect. 

Soon  followed  the  greater  victory  at  Manassas, 
where  the  main  body  of  both  armies  was  massed, 
in  the  latter  part  of  July.  The  "  Grand  Army  " 
was  completely  routed,  and  panic  and  confusion 
marked  its  disorderly  retreat  to  the  sheltering 
banks  of  the  Potomac.  It  was  a  moment  of  su- 
preme joy  and  triumph  to  the  South,  and  proved  to 
the  world  her  determination  and  her  prowess.  It 
was  a  victory  gained  over  fifty-five  thousand  by  an 
army  not  much  over  thirty-one  thousand,  which,  as 
one  of  the  Northern  historians  *  candidly  admits, 
was  "  inferior  in  arms,  equipments,  and  means  of 
transportation." 

Here  it  was  that  Jackson's  command  won  its 
name  of  the  "  Stonewall  Brigade."  The  deter- 
mined stand  of  his  two  thousand  men  turned  the 
fortunes  of  the  day.  Bee,  approaching  Jackson 
and  pointing  to  the  remnants  of  his  command  and 
the  shattered  remains  of  Barton  and  Evans  huddled 
together  in  the  woods,  exclaimed  :  "  General,  they 
are  beating  us  back."  "  Sir,  we  '11  give  them  the 
bayonet,"  replied  Jackson ;  and  Bee,  rushing  back 

*Swinton. 
8 


86  A    POPULAR   LIFE   OP  [1861. 

to  his  troops,  rallied  them  with  the  words  :  "  There 
is  Jackson,  standing  like  a  stone  wall;  let  us  determine 
to  die  here,  and  we  will  conquer."  And  Bee  fell 
mortally  wounded,  holding  in  his  hand  the  sword 
which  South  Carolina  had  presented  him. 

General  Lee  thus  writes  of  this  victory  to  one  of 

his  family : 

"RICHMOND,  27th  July,  1861. 

"  I  have  received,  dear  M ,  your  letter  from 

E View,  and  am  glad  your  visit  has  been  so 

agreeable That  indeed  was  a  glorious  vic- 
tory, and  has  lightened  the  pressure  upon  our  front 
amazingly.  Do  not  grieve  for  the  brave  dead. 
Sorrow  for  those  they  left  behind,  friends,  relatives, 
and  families.  The  former  are  at  rest,  the  latter 
must  suffer.  The  battle  will  be  repeated  there  in 
greater  force.  I  hope  God  will  again  smile  upon 
us,  and  strengthen  our  hearts  and  arms. 

"  I  wished  to  partake  in  the  former  struggle,  but 
the  President  thought  it  more  important  I  should' 
be  here.  I  could  not  have  done  as  well,  but  could 
have  helped,  and  taken  part  in  the  struggle  for 
my  home  and  neighborhood.  So  the  work  is  done, 
I  care  not  by  whom  it  is  done.  I  leave  to-morrow 
for  the  new  army.  I  wished  to  go  before,  as  I 
wrote  you,  and  was  all  prepared,  but  the  indications 
were  so  evident  of  the  coming  battle,  and  in  the 
uncertainty  of  the  result  the  President  forbade  my 
departure.  Now  it  is  necessary,  and  he  consents.  I 

inclose  a  letter  from  M .  Write  to  her  if  you  can, 

and  thank  her,  for  I  have  not  time.  Every  moment 


1861.]  GENERAL   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  87 

is  occupied,  and  all  my  thoughts  and  strength  are 
given  to  the  cause  to  which  my  life,  be  it  long  or 
short,  will  he  devoted." 

Already  in  Western  Virginia,  on  the  3d  of  June, 
a  small  force  of  seven  hundred  men,  under  Colonel 
Porterfield,  sent  out  by  General  Lee,  had  suffered 
a  repulse  at  Philippi,  a  prelude  to  the  disaster  soon 
to  follow. 

General  Lee  immediately  sent  a  reinforcement 
of  about  6,000  men,  under  General  Garnet,  who 
had  served  as  his  Adjutant-General  during  the 
first  weeks  of  the  war.  This  little  band  was  forced 
to  contend  against  fourfold  numbers.  On  the  llth 
of  July,  having  unfortunately  divided,  Colonel  John 
Pegram,  the  second  in  command,  holding  Rich 
Mountain,  and  General  Garnet  with  the  main  force 
remaining  at  Laurel  Hill,  they  were  attacked  by  two 
columns  of  the  enemy.  After  a  vigorous  defence, 
Colonel  Pegram  fell  back  from  Rich  Mountain, 
losing  many  of  his  men,  who  fell  into  the  hands  of 
the  enemy. 

General  Garnet,  attempting  also  to  fall  back  after 
hearing  of  this  reverse,  was  pursued  by  McClellan, 
and  while  gallantly  striving  to  rally  his  rear  guard, 
was  killed.  Five  hundred  of  his  men  were  taken 
prisoners. 

At  this  crisis,  General  Lee  went  to  take  com- 
mand of  the  remnant  of  Garnet's  army. 

A  series  of  skirmishes  took  place  during  the 


88  A   POPULAR   LIFE   OP  [1861. 

months  of  August  and  September,  with  no  impor- 
tant result. 

In  one  of  these,  Colonel  John  A.  "Washington,  of 
Mount  Vernon,  was  killed.  lie  was  acting  as  Gen- 
eral Lee's  Aid-de-camp,  and  venturing  incautiously 
in  advance  of  the  column,  was  shot,  and,  falling 
from  his  horse,  died  instantly. 

Finally,  General  Lee  united  with  his  own  the 
forces  of  Generals  Floyd  and  Wise  in  the  Kanawha 
Valley,  and  concentrated  at  Sewell  Mountain  an 
army  of  15,000  men. 

It  was  hoped  that  a  hattle  would  now  take  place 
to  bring  to  a  successful  issue  this  desultory  and  in- 
active campaign.  But  after  nearly  two  weeks  had 
elapsed,  during  which  each  waited  for  the  other  to 
attack,  it  was  discovered,  one  morning,  that  Rose- 
crans  had  disappeared,  retreating  to  his  former  po- 
sition on  Gauley  River.  The  state  of  the  roads  and 
streams  made  it  impossible  for  General  Lee  to  fol- 
low him  with  any  hope  of  an  active  pursuit.  Win- 
ter was  corning  on,  and  it  was  decided  to  leave  this 
part  of  the  country  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  and 
remove  the  forces  to  another  and  more  important 
field. 

General  Lee  returned  to  Richmond  in  November, 
and  the  failure  of  this  campaign  was  the  occasion 
of  severe  comment  by  the  over-sanguine  South- 
erners. 

Like   Washington,  before    Boston    in    1776,   he 


1861.]  GENERAL   ROBERT    E.  LEE.  89 

might  have  said,  "  I  know  the  unhappy  predica- 
ment I  stand  in.  I  know  that  much  is  expected  of 
me ;  "  hut,  like  Washington,  he  was  ready  to  sacri- 
fice his  reputation  rather  than  waste  the  lives  of  his 
men  in  the  vain  attempt  to  hold  a  hostile  country. 

When  we  take  into  consideration  the  obstacles 
against  which  he  contended,  the  hostile  character 
of  the  inhabitants,  who  hctrayed  his  every  move- 
ment to  the  enemy,  the  difficulties  of  transportation 
in  so  rough  a  country,  —  having  no  access  to  a  rail- 
road or  navigable  river,  while  the  enemy  had  two 
railroads  uniting  at  Grafton,  enabling  them  to  ad- 
vance or  retreat  with  equal  facility, —  we  are  at  no 
loss  to  account  for  this  failure. 

"  He  came  back,"  says  Mr.  Davis,  "  carrying  the 
heavy  weight  of  defeat,  and  unappreciated  by  the 
people  whom  he  served ;  for  they  could  not  know, 
as  I  knew,  that  if  his  plans  and  orders  had  been 
carried  out,  the  result  would  have  been  victory 
rather  than  retreat.  They  did  not  know  it;  for  I 
would  not  have  known  it,  if  he  had  not  breathed  it 
in  my  ear1  only  at  my  earnest  request,  and  begging 
that  nothing  be  said  about  it.  The  clamor  which 
then  arose  followed  him  when  he  went  to  South 
Carolina,  so  that  it  became  necessary  to  write  a 
letter  to  the  Governor  of  that  State,  telling  him 
what  manner  of  man  he  was.  Yet  through  all  this, 
with  a  magnanimity  rarely  equalled,  he  stood  in 
silence,  without  defending  himself,  or  allowing 
8* 


90  A    POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1861. 

others  to  defend  him;  for  he  was  unwilling  to 
offend  any  one  who  was  wearing  a  sword  and 
striking  blows  for  the  Confederacy." 

General  Lee  was  now  put  in  charge  of  the  coast 
defences  of  Georgia  and  South  Carolina.  His  duty 
consisted  in  superintending  the  construction  of 
fortifications  for  the  important  defence  of  .the 
coast  line.  His  work  was  admirably  performed, 
and  in  this  department  he  won  new  popularity  and 
esteem. 

From  the  coast  he  thus  writes  to  one  of  his 
daughters : 

"  COOSAWHATCHIE,  S.  C.,  25th  December,  1861. 

"  MY  DEAR  DAUGHTER: — Having  distributed  such 
poor  Christmas  gifts  as  I  had  to  those  around  me, 
I  have  been  looking  for  something  for  you.  Trifles 
even  are  hard  to  get  these  war  times,  and  you  must 
not  therefore  expect  more.  I  have  sent  you  what 
I  thought  most  useful  in  your  separation  from  me, 
and  hope  it  will  be  of  some  service.  Though 
stigmatized  as  '  vile  dross,'  it  has  never  been  a 
drug  with  me.  That  you  may  never  want  for  it, 
restrict  your  wants  to  your  necessities.  To  com- 
pensate for  such  '  trash,'  I  send  you  some  sweet 
violets,  that  I  gathered  for  you  this  morning  while 
covered  with  dense  white  frost,  whose  crystals  glit- 
tered in  the  bright  sun  like  diamonds,  and  formed 
a  brooch  of  rare  beauty  and  sweetness  which  could 
not  be  fabricated  by  the  expenditure  of  a  world  of 


1861.]  GENERAL  ROBERT   E.  LEE.  91 

money.  Yet  how  little  will  it  purchase.  But  see 
how  God  provides  for  our  pleasure  in  every  way. 
May  he  guard  and  preserve  you  for  me,  my  dear 
daughter.  Among  the  calamities  of  war,  the  hard- 
est to  bear,  perhaps,  is  the  separation  of  families 
and  friends.  Yet  all  must  be  endured  to  accom- 
plish our  independence,  and  maintain  our  self- 
government.  In  my  absence  from  you,  I  have 
thought  of  you  very  often,  and  regretted  I  could 
do  nothing  for  your  comfort.  Your  old  home,  if 
not  destroyed  by  our  enemies,  has  been  so  dese- 
crated that  I  cannot  bear  to  think  of  it.  I  should 
have  preferred  it  to  have  been  wiped  from  the 
earth,  its  beautiful  hill  sunk,  and  its  sacred  trees 
buried,  rather  than  to  have  been  degraded  by  the 
presence  of  those  who  revel  in  the  ill  they  do  for 
their  own  selfish  purposes.  You  see  what  a  poor 
sinner  I  am,  and  how  unworthy  to  possess  what 
was  given  me  ;  for  that  reason  it  has  been  taken 
away.  I  pray  for  a  better  spirit,  and  that  the  hearts 
of  our  enemies  may  be  changed.  In  your  house- 
less condition,  I  hope  you  make  yourself  contented 
and  useful.  Occupy  yourself  in  aiding  those  more 
helpless  than  yourself.  ....  Think  always  of 
your  father,  R.  E.  LEE." 

A  letter  to  another  daughter  on  attaining  her 
sixteenth  birthday,  breathes  the  same  tender  and 
affectionate  spirit. 

"SAVANNAH,  20th  February,  1862. 

"  And  are  you  really  sweet  sixteen  ?  That  is 
charming,  and  I  want  to  see  you  more  than  ever. 


92  A    POPULAR    LIFE   OF  [1862. 

But  when  that  will  be,  my  darling  child,  I  have  no 
idea.  I  hope  after  the  war  is  over  we  may  again 
all  be  united,  and  I  may  have  some  pleasant  years 
with  my  dear  children,  that  they  may  cheer  the 
remnant  of  my  days.  I  am  very  glad  to  hear  that 
you  are  progressing  so  well  in  your  studies,  and 
that  your  reports  are  so  favorable.  Your  mother 
wrote  me  about  them.  You  must  continue  to  do 
likewise  to  the  end  of  the  session,  when  I  hope  you 
will  be  able  to  join  your  mother.  It  has  been  a 
long  time  since  I  have  seen  you,  and  you  must  have 
grown  a  great  deal.  Hob  says  he  is  told  that  you 
are  a  young  woman.  I  have  grown  so  old,  and  be- 
come so  changed,  that  you  would  not  know  me. 
But  I  love  you  just  as  much  as  ever,  and  you  know 
how  great  a  love  that  is.  You  must  remember  me 

to  the  P s,  your  cousin  M ,  Mrs.  B ,  the 

C s,  &c.,  and  tell  them  how  obliged  I  am  for 

their  kindness  to  you.  I  hope  you  appreciate  it, 
and  that  your  manners  and  conduct  are  so  well 
regulated  as  to  make  your  presence  and  company 
agreeable  to  them. 

"  I  hope  you  will  be  admired  and  loved  by  all 
my  friends,  and  acquire  the  friendship  of  all  the 
good  and  virtuous. 

"  I  am  glad  S agrees  with  you  so  well.  You 

know  it  is  considered  vulgar  for  young  ladies  to 
eat,  which  I  suppose  is  the  cause  of  your  abstinence. 
But  do  not  carry  it  too  far,  for  you  know  I  do  not 
admire  young  women  who  are  too  thin. 

"  Who  is  so  imprudent  in  Clarke  as  to  get  mar- 
ried ?  I  did  not  think  in  these  days  of  serious 


1862.]         GENERAL   ROBERT  E.  LEE.  93 

occurrences  that  any  one  would  engage  in  such 
trivial  amusements. 

"  This  is  a  serious  period,  indeed,  and  the  time 
looks  dark,  but  it  will  brighten  again,  and  I  hope 
a  kind  Providence  will  yet  smile  upon  us,  and  give 
us  freedom  and  independence. 

"  These  reverses  were  necessary  to  make  us  brace 
ourselves  for  the  work  before  us.  We  were  getting 
careless  and  confident,  and  required  correction. 
You  must  do  all  you  can  for  our  dear  country. 
Pray  for  the  aid  of  our  Father  in  heaven,  for  our 
suffering  soldiers  and  their  distressed  families.  I 
pray  day  and  night  for  you.  May  Almighty  God 
guide,  guard,  and  protect  you !  I  have  but  little 
time  to  write,  my  dear  daughter.  You  must  excuse 
my  short  and  dull  letters.  Write  me  when  you  can, 
and  love  always  your  devoted  father, 

«R.  E.  LEE." 

It  was  finally  decided  to  recall  General  Lee  to 
Richmond,  with  the  new  appointment  of  Command- 
ing General,  to  take  in  charge  the  entire  military 
preparations  of  the  country. 

The  following  order  assigned  him  to  this  duty : 

"WAR  DEPARTMENT, 

Adjutant  and  Inspector  General's  Office, 

RICHMOND,  March  13th,  1862. 

"  GENERAL  ORDERS,  No.  14. 

"  General  Robert  E.  Lee  is  assigned  to  duty  at 
the  seat  of  government,  and,  under  the  direction  of 


94  A    POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1862. 

the  President,  is  charged  with  the  conduct  of  mili- 
tary operations  in  the  armies  of  the  Confederacy. 
"  By  command  of  the  Secretary  of  War, 

S.  COOPER, 
Adjutant  and  Inspector  General." 

General  Lee  entered  immediately  upon  these 
duties,  but  was  only  retained  in  this  position  a  few 
months, — a  new  and  more  active  field  awaited  him. 

While  in  Richmond  he  worked  day  and  night 
upon  the  tasks  assigned  him,  and  the  lines  about 
Richmond  showed  the  effect  of  his  immense  labor — 
earth-works  rose  on  every  side,  crowning  her  seven 
hills.  Batteries,  rifle-pits,  redoubts,  &c.,  were  to  be 
seen  in  every  direction ;  the  military  situation  soon 
assumed  a  better  aspect. 

General  Lee's  modesty,  always  conspicuous,  seemed 
to  increase  with  every  step  he  made  to  power  and 
responsibility,  while  the  courtesy  and  simplicity 
which  marked  his  intercourse  with  strangers,  as 
with  officials,  won  for  him  the  affection  which  he 
well  deserved. 


1862.]         GENERAL   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  95 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Reorganization  of  the  Army  —  The  Peninsular  Campaign  —  Battle 
of  Seven  Pines  —  Johnston  Wounded  —  General  Lee  takes  Com- 
mand —  Jackson's  Valley  Campaign  —  "Stuart's  Ride  "  —  Gen- 
eral Orders  —  Jackson's  Mysterious  March  —  Mcchanicsville. 

rpHE  affairs  of  the  Confederacy,  at  this  period, 
-*-  were  not  in  as  favorable  a  condition  as  might 
have  been  expected,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the 
Southern  army  had  just  gained  the  splendid  victory 
of  Manassas.  Victory  had  been  in  a  measure  dis- 
astrous, as  it  inspired  an  undue  confidence.  It  was 
believed  by  the  flushed  and  victorious  Southrons 
that  a  recognition  of  the  Confederate  States  by  the 
European  Powers  was  certain,  and  a  speedy  peace 
at  hand. 

While  the  active  spirit  of  the  North  multiplied 
its  armies,  and  brought  out  its  wonderful  resources, 
the  South  indulged  in  dreams  of  confidence,  and 
the  three-months'  men  went  home  to  repose  upon 
their  laurels. 

The  reorganization  of  the  army  in  December, 
1861,  was  conducted  in  such  a  manner  as  to 
weaken  rather  than  increase  its  efficiency.  Con- 
gress had  passed  an  act  by  which  the  men  could 
change  from  one  arm  of  the  service  to  another  at 
their  own  option,  and  also  elect  their  own  officers. 


96  A   POPULAR   LIFE  OF  [1862. 

The  soldiers  claimed,  too,  their  right  to  leave  the 
army  at  the  expiration  of  the  one  year  for  which 
they  had  enlisted. 

It  was  then  found  necessary  to  pass  the  Conscrip- 
tion Act,  which  rigorous  measure,  though  causing 
great  discontent,  had  the  desired  effect  of  placing 
the  army  in  a  more  favorable  condition  to  meet  the 
enemy. 

It  was  felt  that  in  Virginia  the  decisive  struggle 
would  take  place.  The  Border  States  of  Kentucky 
and  Missouri  had  resisted  gallantly  at  first,  but 
being  without  effectual  means  of  defence,  were 
gradually  occupied  by  the  Federal  troops.  New 
Orleans  had  fallen,  and  the  whole  of  the  coast, 
pressed  by  the  Federal  fleet,  without  ships,  and 
with  but  few  forts  to  oppose  them,  was  slowly  yield- 
ing to  the  enemy's  attacks. 

A  large  army  commanded  by  General  McClellan, 
who  had  won  great  reputation  from  his  successes 
in  Western  Virginia,  threatened  Richmond.  The 
armies  of  Fremont,  Banks,  and  McDowell  were 
marching  from  the  North  and  West  upon  the  cap- 
ital —  in  all  not  less  than  200,000  men. 

General  Joseph  E.  Johnston,  who  in  March  had 
evacuated  Manassas,  going  to  the  aid  of  Magruder, 
on  the  Peninsula,  now  commanded  the  Confed- 
erate forces  defending  Richmond. 

On  the  last  day  of  May,  he  advanced  upon  the 
Federal  lines,  intrenched  on  the  Chickahominy, 


1862.]  GENERAL    ROBERT   E.  I,  K  K .  97 

and  a  furious  struggle  ensued.  This  engagement 
was  known  as  the  battle  of  Seven  Pines.  McClellan 
was  forced  to  fall  back,  and  the  Confederates  re- 
mained in  possession  of  the  enemy's  works.  A 
Federal  soldier,  writing  to  a  Northern  paper,  says 
of  the  Confederate  troops :  "  Our  shot  tore  their 
ranks  wide  open,  and  shattered  them  asunder  in  a 
manner  that  was  frightful  to  witness;  but  they 
closed  up  at  once,  and  came  on  as  steadily  as  Eng- 
lish veterans." 

On  the  left,  at  Fair  Oaks  Station,  the  Confederates 
in  turn  were  repulsed ;  and  here  General  Johnston 
was  severely  wounded  by  a  fragment  of  shell. 
General  Lee  was  immediately  sent  from  Richmond 
to  take  command  of  his  army.  Jackson  in  the 
meanwhile  was  about  to  bring  to  a  successful  close 
his  famous  valley  campaign,  and  thus  relieve  Rich- 
mond of  any  danger  from  that  quarter.  The  three 
Northern  generals  who  opposed  him,  Fremont, 
Banks,  and  McDowell,  were  either  routed  or  ren- 
dered powerless. 

The  victory  of  Port  Republic  on  the  9th  of  June, 
one  of  the  most  brilliant  of  the  war,  enabled  Jack- 
son to  march  his  army  on  to  a  junction  with  Lee, 
and  become  his  "  right  arm,"  as  he  called  him,  in 
his  future  campaigns. 

Before  commencing  the  battles  of  the  Seven 
Days,  General  Lee,  in  order  to  learn  something 
more  definite  of  the  position  and  strength  of  his 


98  A    POPULAR    LIFE   OF  [1862. 

opponents,  ordered  General  Stuart  to  undertake  a. 
reconnoissance  in  the  rear  of  the  enemy's  lines. 

On  the  12th  of  June,  Stuart  made  his  famous 
"  ride  around  McClellan,"  with  a  force  of  1,500 
men,  officered  by  Colonels  William  II.  Lee,  Fitz 
Hugh  Lee,  Lieutenant- Colonel  Martin,  Captain 
Latane,  and  other  officers  afterwards  to  become 
known  to  fame.  He  gained  most  important  infor- 
mation, took  many  prisoners,  and  inflicted  damage 
to  the  amount  of  seven  millions  of  dollars;  and  all 
this  with  the  loss  of  but  one  man,  the  gallant 
Captain  Latane.  This  has  been  truly  considered 
"  one  of  the  most  brilliant  feats  ever  performed  by 
any  cavalry." 

The  following  general  order  was  issued  upon  the 
return  of  Stuart's  forces : 

"HEADQUARTERS  DEPARTMENT  OF  NORTHERN  VIRGINIA, 

June  23d,  1862. 
"  GENERAL  ORDERS,  No.  74. 

"The  General  commanding  announces  with  great 
satisfaction  to  the  army  the  brilliant  exploit  of  Bri- 
gadier-General J.  E.  B.  Stuart,  with  a  part  of  the 
troops  under  his  command.  This  gallant  officer, 
with  portions  of  the  First,  Fourth,  and  Ninth  Vir- 
ginia Cavalry,  a  part  of  the  Jeff.  Davis  Legion,  with 
whom  were  the  Boykin  Rangers,  and  a  section  of 
the  Stuart  horse-artillery,  on  the  13th,  14th,  and  15th 
of  June,  made  a  reconnoissance  between  the  Pa- 
inunkeyandthcChickahominy  rivers, and  succeeded 


1862.]  GENERAL   ROBERT   E.   LEE.  99 

in  passing  around  the  rear  of  the  whole  Federal 
army,  routing  the  enemy  in  a  series  of  skirmishes, 
taking  a  number  of  prisoners,  and  destroying  and 
capturing  stores  to  a  large  amount.  Having  most 
successfully  accomplished  the  object  of  the  expedi- 
tion, he  recrossed  the  Chickahominy  almost  in  the 
presence  of  the  enemy,  with  the  same  coolness  and 
address  that  marked  every  step  of  his  progress,  and 
with  the  loss  of  but  one  man,  the  lamented  Captain 
Latane,  of  the  Ninth  Virginia  Cavalry,  who  fell 
bravely  leading  a  successful  charge  against  a  supe- 
rior force  of  the  enemy. 

"  In  announcing  this  signal  success  to  the  army, 
the  General  commanding  takes  great  pleasure  in  ex- 
pressing his  admiration  of  the  courage  and  skill  BO 
conspicuously  exhibited  throughout  by  the  general 
and  the  officers  and  men  under  his  command. 

"  In  addition  to  the  officers  honorably  mentioned 
in  the  report  of  the  expedition,  the  conduct  of  the 
following  privates  has  received  the  special  com- 
mendation of  their  commanders:  Privates  Thomas 
D.  Clapp,  Company  3),  First  Virginia  Cavalry,  and 
J.  S.  Mosby,*  serving  with  the  same  regiment; 
Privates  Ash  ton,  Brent,  II.  Herring,  F.  Herring,  and 
F.  Coleman,  Company  E.  Ninth  Virginia  Cavalry. 
"By  command  of  General  Lee, 

R.  II.  CIIILTON,  A.  A.  General." 

On  the  morning  of  the  26th  of  June,  General  Lee 
was  prepared  for  a  general  advance.  His  orders 

*  This  private,  J.  S.  Mosby,  was  afterwards  to  become  famous 
H«  Colonel  Mosby,  the  partisan  leader. 


100  A    POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1862. 

for  the  attack  are  given  to  show  with  what  precision 
they  were  carried  out  in  the  conduct  of  the  battle 
that  followed. 

"  HEADQUARTERS    ARMY   OF   NORTHERN   VIRGINIA, 

June  24th,  18(52. 
"  GENERAL  ORDERS  No.  75. 

"  I.  General  Jackson's  command  will  proceed  to- 
morrow from  Ashland  towards  the  Slash  Church, 
and  encamp  at  some  convenient  point  west  of 
the  Central  Railroad.  Branch's  Brigade,  of  A. 
P.  Hill's  division,  will  also,  to-morrow  evening, 
take  position  on  the  Chickahominy,  near  Half 
Sink.  At  three  o'clock  on  Thursday  morning, 
26th  instant,  General  Jackson  will  advance  on 
the  road  leading  to  Pale  Green  Church,  communi- 
cating his  march  to  General  Branch,  who  will  im- 
mediately cross  the  Chickahominy,  and  take  the 
road  leading  to  Mechanics ville.  As  soon  as  the 
movements  of  these  columns  are  discovered,  Gen- 
eral A.  P.  Hill,  with  the  rest  of  his  division,  will 
cross  the  Chickahominy  near  Meadow  Bridge,  and 
move  direct  upon  Mechanicsville.  To  aid  his  ad- 
vance, the  heavy  batteries  on  the  Chickahominy 
will,  at  the  proper  time,  open  upon  the  batteries  at 
Mechanicsville.  The  enemy  being  driven  from 
Mechanicsville,  and  the  passage  across  the  bridge 
opened,  General  Longstreet,  with  his  division  and 
that  of  General  I).  H.  Hill,  will  cross  the  Chicka- 
hominy at  or  near  that  point;  and  General  D.  II. 
Hill  moving  to  the  support  of  General  Jackson, 
and  General  Longstreet  supporting  General  A.  P. 
Hill,  the  four  divisions  keeping  in  communication 


1862.]         GENERAL   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  101 

with  each  other,  and  moving  in  echelon  on  separate 
roads,  if  practicable.  The  left  division  in  advance, 
with  skirmishers  and  sharpshooters  extending  in 
their  front,  will  sweep  down  the  Chickahominy  and 
endeavor  to  drive  the  enemy  from  his  position  above 
New  Bridge,  General  Jackson,  bearing  well  to  his 
left,  turning  Beaver  Dam  Creek,  and  taking  the 
direction  toward  Cold  Harbor.  They  will  then 
press  forward  toward  York  River  Railroad,  closing 
upon  the  enemy's  rear  and  forcing  him  down  the 
Chickahominy.  Any  advance  of  the  enemy  toward 
Richmond  will  be  prevented  by  vigorously  follow- 
ing his  rear,  crippling  and  arresting  his  progress. 

"  II.  The  divisions  under  Generals  linger  and 
Magruder  will  hold  their  positions  in  front  of  the 
enemy  against  attack,  and  make  such  demonstra- 
tions, Thursday,  as  to  discover  his  operations. 
Should  opportunity  offer,  the  feint  will  be  con- 
verted into  a  real  attack ;  and  should  an  abandon- 
ment of  his  intrcnchments  by  the  enemy  be  dis- 
covered, he  will  be  closely  pursued. 

"III.  The  Third  "Virginia  Cavalry  will  observe 
the  Charles  City  road.  The  Fifth  Virginia,  the  First 
North  Carolina,  and  the  Hampton  Legion  Cavalry, 
will  observe  the  Darbytown,  Varina,  and  Osborue 
roads.  Should  a  movement  of  the  enemy,  down 
the  Chickahominy,  be  discovered,  they  will  close 
upon  his  flank  and  endeavor  to  arrest  his  inarch. 

"IV.  General  Stuart,  with  the  First,  Fourth, 
and  Ninth  Virginia  Cavalry,  the  cavalry  of  Cobb's 
Legion  and  the  Jeff  Davis  Legion,  will  cross  the 
Chickahominy  to-morrow,  and  take  position  to  the 

9* 


102  A    POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1862. 

left  of  General  Jackson's  line  of  march.  The  main 
body  will  be  held  in  reserve,  with  scouts  well  ex- 
tended to  the  front  and  left.  General  Stuart  will 
keep  General  Jackson  informed  of  the  movements 
of  the  enemy  on  his  left,  and  will  co-operate  with 
him  in  his  advance.  The  Sixteenth  Virginia  Cav- 
alry, Colonel  Davis,  will  remain  on  the  Nine  Mile 
road. 

"  V.  General  Ransom's  brigade,  of  General 
Ilolmes's  command,  will  be  placed  in  reserve  on 
the  Williamsburg  road  by  General  Iluger,  to  whom 
he  will  report  for  orders. 

"  VI.  Commanders  of  divisions  will  cause  their 
commands  to  be  provided  with  three  days'  cooked 
rations.  The  necessary  ambulances  and  ordnance 
trains  will  be  ready  to  accompany  the  divisions,  and 
receive  orders  from  their  respective  commanders. 
Officers  in  charge  of  all  trains  will  invariably  re- 
main with  them.  Batteries  and  wagons  will  keep 
on  the  right  of  the  road.  The  Chief  Engineer, 
Major  Stevens,  will  assign  engineer  officers  to  each 
division,  whose  duty  it  will  be  to  make  provision 
for  overcoming  all  difficulties  to  the  progress  of  the 
troops.  The  staff  departments  will  give  the  neces- 
sary instructions  to  facilitate  the  movements  herein 
directed. 

"  By  command  of  General  Lee, 

II.  H.  C HILTON, 

A.  A.  General." 

General  Lee  wrote  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  say- 
ing that  he  might  be  beyond  a  certain  designated 


1862.]         GENERAL   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  103 

point  where  couriers  could  find  him  should  "  any- 
thing of  importance  occur."  This  was  the  only 
hint  given  of  what  he  was  ahout  to  do:  so  careful 
was  he  lest  news  of  the  intended  movement  should 
reach  the  enemy  beforehand.  Thus  practising  the 
maxim  of  his  great  Lieutenant,  who  often  said, 
"  mystery  is  the  secret  of  success,"  and  who  had 
given  practical  illustration  of  its  truth. 

According  to  General  Lee's  instructions,  Jackson 
with  his  whole  command  had  marched  secretly 
from  the  Valley,  moving  so  rapidly,  that,  leaving 
Port  Republic  on  the  17th,  he  reached  Ashland  on 
the  25th.  This  was  effected  with  such  skill,  that 
neither  General  McClcllan  nor  any  of  the  Federal 
commanders  in  the  Valley  suspected  the  movement. 
General  Lee  onlj'  waited  for  Jackson's  arrival.  Be- 
ing delayed  longer  than  was  expected,  General  A. 
P.  Hill's  impatience  could  not  be  restrained.  Gen- 
eral Lee  gave  the  order  to  commence,  and  General 
Hill  left  his  camps  and  moved  on  to  Mechanicsville, 
where  the  Federals  were  intrenched,  guarding  the 
bridge.  General  Hill  attacked  with  his  usual  im- 
petuosity; Fields's  brigade,  with  Pcgram's  Battery, 
after  a  sharp  encounter,  drove  the  enemy  from  Me- 
chanicsville, thus  opening  the  way  for  Longstreet 
and  D.  II.  Hill  to  cross.  But  the  principal  strength 
of  the  Federals  was  massed  a  mile  back  of  the  town, 
at  Beaver  Dam  Creek.  Here  Hill's  forces  en- 
countered a  most  destructive  tire,  directly  in  the 


104  A   POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1862. 

face  and  on  the  flank.  The  troops,  after  several 
attempts  to  dislodge  the  enemy,  were  forced  to 
withdraw.  The  battle  lasted  from  three  in  the 
afternoon  till  nine  at  night  The  Confederates 
slept  upon  the  field  which  they  had  won,  while 
Porter's  corps,  of  the  United  States  army,  occupied 
the  steep  bank  of  the  creek,  from  which  they  had 
successfully  resisted  the  further  advance  of  the 
Confederates ;  and  thus  ended  the  "  battle  of  Me- 
chanicsville,"  the  first  of  the  "seven  days'  fight" 
around  Richmond. 


CHAPTER   IX. 

The  Kve  of  Buttle  —  Meeting  of  Lee  and  Jackson  —  Cold  Harbor 
—  The  Charge  of  the  Texas  Brigade  —  General  Lee's  Despatch. 

ON  the  morning  of  the  27th,  Jackson's  arrival 
was   still    anxiously   looked   for.      The   great 
struggle  was  at  hand. 

"  General  Lee  having  taken  up  his  headquarters 
at  a  house  on  Hogan's  plantation,  awaited  quietly 
the  moment  when  his  word  of  command  would  join 
the  most  important  battle  of  the  war.  It  was  past 
noon.  The  columns  of  Hill  and  Longstreet  halted 
in  the  open  ground  to  await  the  arrival  of  Jackson's 
right  at  New  Cold  Harbor.  General  Lee,  quiet  and 
serious,  sat  alone  in  the  rear  portico  of  Hogan's 


1862.]          GENERA  I,    ROB  KRT    E.   LEE.  105 

house.  A  crowd  of  military  dignitaries  were  gath- 
ered in  council  upon  the  front  door-steps  and  on 
the  grassy  sward.  A  low  and  eager  conversation 
was  kept  up  among  them,  while  the  great  com- 
mander sat  alone  in  thoughtful  attitude,  his  tine, 
calm,  open  countenance  serious  in  its  expression, 
but  without  any  line  or  shadow  upon  it  of  weak 
anxiety  or  irresolution.  Presently  a  courier  dashes 
up,  and  delivers  a  paper  to  General  Lee.  As  the 
commander  mounts  his  horse  it  is  understood  that 
Jackson  is  at  hand,  and  that  the  time  for  action  has 
come.  ''  * 

About  noon,  A.  P.  Hill,  who  was  in  the  advance, 
reached  Cold  Harbor,  and  immediately  advanced 
his  division  to  the  attack.  In  his  official  report, 
General  Lee  states  that  "  many  of  these  men  had 
never  been  under  fire  till  the  previous  day;"  yet 
they  attacked  the  enemy  in  his  strong  position  and 
drove  him  from  it,  though  with  heavy  loss  from  the 
tire  of  McClellan's  artillery.  The  battle  raged 
fiercely  with  varying  fortunes  for  two  hours.  Gen- 
eral Lee  sent  Longstreet  to  make  a  diversion  in  favor 
of  the  attacking  columns,  and  orders  for  a  general 
advance  were  given.  At  this  moment,  amid  the 
roar  of  guns,  loud  cheers  were  heard,  and  the  cry 
of  "Jackson!  Jackson!"  rang  along  the  lines  "in 
a  shout  so  wild  and  triumphant,"  says  one  who  was 
present,  "  that  it  rolled  across  the  woods  and  reached 
the  ears  of  the  Federal  army."  This  soldier,  who 

*  Poll;inl:    f.f>.«t  Cnti*.<. 


106 


A    POPULAR    LIFE   OF 


[1862. 


is  also  a  writer,  describes  *  this,  the  first  meeting 
between  Lee  and  Jackson. 

"  Jackson   was  riding  a  raw-boned  sorrel,  witli 
his  knees  drawn  up  by  the  short  stirrups,  his  eyes 


MEETJNO  BETWEEN  LEE  AND  J  A  c  K  8  o  x. 

peering  out  from  beneath  the  low  rim  of  his  padded 
cap;  there  was  absolutely  nothing  about  him,  save 
the  dingy  stars  on  his  collar,  to  indicate  his  rank. 
Lee,  on  the  contrary,  was  clad  in  a  neat  uniform, 
without  decorations,  rode  an  excellent  and  carefully 
groomed  horso,  and  every  detail  of  his  person,  even 

x  Hammer  nnd  Hoifr. 


1802.]  GENERAL    UO1JERT    E.LEE.  107 

movement  of  the  erect  and  graceful  figure  of  the 
most  stately  cavalier  in  the  Southern  army,  revealed 
his  elevated  character,  the  consciousness  of  com- 
mand, a  species  of  moral  and  official  'grandeur,' 
both  of  which  it  was  impossible  to  mistake.  The 
Almighty  had  made  both  these  human  beings  truly 
great ;  to  only  one  of  them  had  lie  given  the  ad- 
ditional grace  of  looking  great. 

"'Ah,  General!'  said  Lee,  grasping  Jackson's 
hand,  '  I  am  very  glad  to  see  you  :  I  hoped  to  have 
been  with  you  before.' 

"  Jackson  saluted,  and  returned  the  pressure  of 
that  hand,  of  whose  owner  he  said,  '  IFe  is  a  phe- 
nomenon ;  he  is  the  onlv  man  T  would  follow  blind- 
fold ! ' 

"General  Lee  then  looked  with  anxiety  in  the 
direction  of  the  firing  on  the  left, 

"  '  That  fire  is  very  heavy,'  he  said,  in  his  deep 
voice.  '  Do  yon  think  your  men  can  stand  it,  Gen- 
eral ? ' 

"  Jackson  turned  his  head  quickly,  listened  for 
an  instant,  and  then  replied,  in  the  curt  tones  so 
familiar  to  all  who  knew  him : 

"  '  They  can  stand  almost  anything,  General. 
They  can  stand  that!'  Ten  minutes  after  uttering 
these  words,  Jackson  saluted  his  commander,  put 
spur  to  his  raw-boned  horse,  and  went  at  full  speed 
to  rejoin  his  corps,  which,  in  his  own  words,  had 
'  closed  in  upon  the  front  and  rear  of  the  enemy, 
and  was  pressing  forward.'  Lee  remained  at  the 
centre.  There  he  was  ready  to  deliver  his  great 
blow." 


108  A    POPULAR    LIFE   OF  [1862. 

About  sunset  he  ordered  an  advance  along  the 
whole  line  ;  and  from  that  moment  the  battle  raged 
with  unsurpassed  fury,  the  enemy  making  a  des- 
perate resistance.  Hood's  Texans  made  a  bold  and 
impetuous  assault  upon  the  fortitied  crest  on  the 
enemy's  left,  and  carried  it  at  the  point  of  the 
bayonet.  Jackson,  looking  at  it  afterwards,  ex- 
claimed, "  The  men  who  carried  this  position  were 
soldiers  indeed ! " 

Hood's  charge  is  thus  described  by  an  eye-wit- 
ness : 

"  In  front  of  us  was  the  '  old  third  brigade,'  who, 
but  a  few  moments  before,  had  started  with  cheers 
to  storm  the  fatal  palisade.  But  the  storm  of  iron 
and  lead  was  too  severe ;  they  '  wavered '  for  a 
moment,  and  fell  upon  the  ground.  At  this  instant, 
General  Hood,  who  had  in  person  taken  command 
of  our  regiment,  commanded,  in  his  clear  ringing 
voice, '  Forward,  quick,  march ! '  arid  onward  moved 
the  little  band  of  live  hundred,  with  the  coolness 
of  veterans.  Here  Colonel  Marshall  fell  dead  from 
his  horse,  pierced  by  a  minie-ball.  Volleys  of 
musketry,  and  showers  of  grape,  canister,  and  shell, 
ploughed  through  us,  but  were  only  answered  by 
the  stern  'close  up  —  close  up  to  the  colors,'  and 
onward  they  rushed  over  the  dead  and  dying,  with- 
out a  pause,  until  within  about  one  hundred  yards 
of  the  breastworks.  AVrc  had  reached  the  apex  of 
the  hill,  and  some  of  the  men,  seeing  the  enemy 
just  before  them,  commenced  to  discharge  their 
pieces.  It  was  at  this  point  that  preceding  brigades 


1862.]  GENERAL   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  109 

had  halted,  and  beyond  which  none  had  gone,  in 
consequence  of  the  terrible  concentrated  fire  of  the 
concealed  enemy.  At  this  critical  juncture  the 
voice  of  General  Hood  was  heard  above  the  din  of 
battle,  'Forward,  forward,  charge  right  down  on 
them,  and  drive  them  out  with  the  bayonet ! '  Fix- 
ing bayonets  as  they  moved,  they  made  one  grand 
rush  for  the  fort ;  down  the  hill,  across  the  creek 
and  fallen  timber,  and  the  next  minute  saw  our 
battle-flag  planted  upon  the  captured  breastwork. 
The  enemy,  frightened  at  the  rapid  approach  of 
pointed  steel,  rose  up  from  behind  their  defences, 
and  started  up  the  hill  at  full  speed.  One  volley 
was  poured  into  their  backs,  and  it  seemed  that  every 
ball  found  a  victim,  so  great  was  the  slaughter. 
Their  works  were  ours,  and  as  our  flag  moved  from 
the  first  to  the  second  tier  of  defences,  a  shout  arose 
from  the  shattered  remnant  of  that  regiment,  which 
will  long  be  remembered  by  those  who  heard  it;  a 
shout  which  announced  that  the  wall  of  death  was 
broken,  and  victory,  which  had  hovered  doubtfully 
for  hours  over  that  bloody  field,  had  at  length 
perched  upon  the  battle-flag  of  the  fourth  Texas. 
Right  and  left  it  was  taken  up,  and  rang  along  the 
lines  for  miles,  long  after  many  of  those  who  started 
it  were  in  eternity." 

At  dark  the  remnants  of  General  Porter's  com- 
mand gave  way,  and  the  battle  of  Cold  Harbor 
was  over.  General  MeClcllan  had  been  driven 
back  to  the  Chickahominy. 

This  was  one  of  the  most  stubborn  battles  of  the 
10 


110  A    POPULAR    LIFE   OF  [1862. 

war.  The  Federal  army  contested  every  inch  of 
ground.  But  their  defeat  was  complete,  and  was 
decisive  of  the  campaign. 

The  losses  in  this  engagement  were  seven  or  eight 
thousand  on  the  Confederate,  and  six  or  seven  thou- 
sand on  the  Federal  side. 

"  With  the  transfer  of  the  right  wing  to  the  south 
side  of  the  Chickahominy,  the  army  of  the  Potomac 
turned  its  back  upon  the  Confederate  capital,  and 
all  the  high  hopes  the  advance  had  inspired.  It 
was  no  longer  a  question  of  taking  Richmond,  but 
of  making  good  the  retreat  to  the  James,  with  a 
victorious  enemy  in  the  rear."  * 

This  retreat  was  accomplished,  however,  in  a 
manner  that  reflected  honor  upon  the  Federal 
General  and  the  army  under  his  command. 

General  Lee  announced  his  victory  in  the  follow- 
ing despatch  to  the  President : 

"HEADQUARTERS,  June  27th,  1862. 
"  His  EXCELLENCY,  PRESIDENT  DAVIS. 

"  Mr.  President: — Profoundly  grateful  to  Al- 
mighty God  for  the  signal  victory  granted  to  us,  it 
is  my  pleasing  task  to  announce  to  you  the  success 
achieved  by  this  army  to-day. 

"  The  enemy  was  this  morning  driven  from  his 
strong  position  behind  Beaver  Dam  Creek,  and 
pursued  to  that  behind  Powhite  Creek,  and,  finally, 
after  a  severe  contest  of  live  hours,  entirely  repulsed 
from  the  field. 

*  Swinton. 


1862.]  GENERAL   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  Ill 

"  Night  put  an  end  to  the  contest.     I  grieve  to 
state  that  our  loss  in  officers  and  men  is  great. 

"  We  sleep  on  the  field,  and  shall  renew  the  con- 
test in  the  morning. 

"  I  have  the  honor  to  he,  very  respectfully, 

"  II.  E.  LEE,  General." 


CHAPTER   X. 

McClellan's  Retreat  —  Savage  Station  —  Frn/ier's  Farm — Mai- 
vern  Hill  —  General  Order  —  Results  of  the  Seven  Days'  Fight- 
ing—  McClellan's  Letter  from  Harrison's  Landing. 

THE  contest  was  not  renewed  the  next  day. 
McClellan  had  withdrawn  his  weary  troops 
during  the  night  to  the  south  side  of  the  river, 
moving  rapidly  to  the  James.  It  was  General  Lee's 
policy  to  intercept  this  march,  and  capture  or  de- 
stroy the  retreating  forces,  lie  was  however  un- 
certain what  McClellan's  course  would  he,  in  which 
direction  he  would  make  his  retreat,  whether  it 
would  be  hy  the  Peninsula,  or  whether,  uniting  his 
forces,  he  might  not  turn  and  give  battle  on  the 
north  side  of  the  river.  McClellan's  plan,  how- 
ever, was  different  from  either  of  these.  His  line 
of  retreat  led  across  the  White  Oak  Swamp,  the 
difficulty  of  which  passage,  over  roads  almost  im- 
passable for  artillery  and  wagons,  opposed  a  strong 


112  A   POPULAR   LIFE  OP  [1862. 

barrier  to  the  attacks  made  by  tbe  pursuing  forces. 
The  darkness  also  favored  McClellan's  movements ; 
and  so  well  bad  be  concealed  bis  designs,  tbat  it 
was  not  until  bis  troops  were  twenty-four  hours  on 
tbe  march  tbat  the  real  state  of  the  case  was  dis- 
covered,— twenty-four  hours  of  immense  advantage 
in  the  execution  of  his  difficult  and  dangerous 
movement 

The  next  morning  General  Lee  put  his  columns 
in  motion.  Magruder  and  Huger  were  to  follow  on 
the  Williamsburg  and  Charles  City  roads,  while 
Longstreet  and  A.  P.  Hill  were  to  intercept  the  re- 
treat near  the  James. 

The  divisions  of  Magruder  and  McLaws,  pushing 
forward  on  the  Williamsburg  road,  encountered 
Sumner's  Corps,  which  constituted  the  rear-guard 
of  the  Federal  army,  at  Savage  Station,  on  the  York 
River.  Magruder  attacked  with  his  usual  prompt- 
ness. Sumncr  held  his  ground  until  darkness  put 
an  end  to  tbe  contest,  and  that  night  he  crossed  the 
White  Oak  Swamp,  destroying  the  bridges  behind 
him.  This  engagement,  fought  on  the  afternoon  of 
the  29th,  is  known  as  the  Battle  of  Savage  Station. 

The  retreat  of  McClellan's  army  through  the 
wearisome  morass,  under  tbe  scorching  June  sun, 
was  conducted  with  a  vigor  and  ability  that  com- 
manded the  admiration  of  their  opponents. 

Their  sufferings  were  great,  many  fell  exhausted 
by  the  heat  and  hunger,  casting  away  all  save  their 


1862.]          GENERAL   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  113 

arms  that  could  impede  their  progress,  and  rising 
again  after  a  brief  uneasy  rest  to  pursue  -their  toil- 
some march. 

The  beleaguered  city  had  no  longer  anything  to 
fear  from  them,  and  she  owed  her  great  deliverance 
to  the  valor  and  skill  of  Lee. 

At  Frazier's  Farm  another  battle  was  fought  by 
the  retreating  army,  which  turned  upon  its  pursuers. 
Longstreet's  Corps,  which  was  in  the  advance  on 
the  right,  made  the  attack  with  vigor.  A.  P.  Hill 
held  the  left.  Jackson,  having  been  delayed  by  the 
destruction  of  the  bridges  at  White  Oak  Swamp, 
had  not  yet  come  up  ;  and  linger,  from  some  cause 
failing  to  arrive  in  time,  the  Confederates  were  not 
strong  enough  to  do  more  than  maintain  their  front. 

"  The  batteries  on  the  centre  and  right  became 
the  aim  of  determined  assaults,  which  were  repeat- 
edly repulsed,  till  finally  Randall's  Battery  was 
captured  by  a  fierce  charge  made  by  two  regiments, 
(the  Fifty-fifth  and  Sixtieth  Virginia,)  advancing  in 
wedge-shape  without  order,  and  with  trailed  arms. 
Pushing  up  to  the  muzzles  of  the  guns,  they 
bayonetted  the  cannoneers.  The  greater  part  of 
the  supporting  regiment  fled ;  but  those  who  re- 
mained made  a  savage  hand-to-hand  and  bayonet- 
tight  over  the  guns,  which  were  final ]y  yielded."  * 

At  length,  when  General  Lee  had  collected  his 
scattered  divisions,  McClellan  had  succeeded  in 

*Swinton. 
10*  H 


114  A   POPULAR   LIFE  OF  [1862. 

making  communications  with  his  gun-boats,  and 
was  prepared  to  make  a  final  stand  at  Malvern  Hill. 

The  Federal  Army  here  opposed  a  solid  front  to 
the  forces  of  the  Southern  General.  They  held  a 
strong  position  on  the  elevated  plateau  of  land, 
and  to  reach  this  front  the  Confederates  were 
obliged  to  pass  through  a  broken  and  swampy 
country,  passable  at  but  few  places,  and  difficult  at 
those. 

General  D.  IT.  Hill  attacked  prematurely,  and 
found  himself  pitted  alone  against  the  entire  Fed- 
eral army.  Vigorous  efforts  were  made  by  Ma- 
gruder,  who  at  length  came  up  with  his  infantry  to 
take  the  heights  by  storm ;  but  his  division  was 
broken  and  beaten  back  in  detail.  At  nine  o'clock 
the  firing  ceased ;  the  Confederates  "  slept  on  the 
field  within  one  hundred  yards  of  the  enemy's 
guns,"  and  McClellan  withdrew  his  forces  during 
the  night  to  Harrison's  Landing.  Although  re- 
pulsing so  stubbornly  the  attacks  of  the  Confed- 
erates, his  army  had  suffered  severely,  and  was  no 
longer  able  to  meet  another  onslaught. 

General  Lee  thus  gives  his  reasons  for  not  again 
assaulting  the  Federal  army : 

"  The  Federal  commander  immediately  began  to 
fortify  his  position,  which  was  one  of  great  natural 
strength,  Hanked  on  each  side  by  a  creek,  and  the 
approach  to  his  front  commanded  by  the  heavy 
guns  of  his  shipping,  in  addition  to  those  mounted 


1862.]  GENERAL   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  115 

in  liis  intrenchments.  It  was  deemed  inexpedient 
to  attack  him,  and  in  view  of  the  condition  of  our 
troops,  who  had  been  marching  and  fighting  almost 
incessantly  for  seven  days  under  the  most  trying 
circumstances,  it  was  determined  to  withdraw,  in 
order  to  afford  them  the  repose  of  which  they  stood 
so  much  in  need." 

The  following  general  order  was  issued  to  the 
troops  on  the  close  of  the  seven  days'  battles : 

"  HEADQUARTERS  IN  THE  FIELD, 
July  7,  1862. 

"  GENERAL  ORDER,  No.  75. 

"  The  General  commanding,  profoundly  grateful 
to  the  Giver  of  all  victory  for  the  signal  success  with 
which  He  has  blessed  our  arms,  tenders  his  warmest 
thanks  and  congratulations  to  the  army  by  whose 
valor  such  splendid  results  have  been  achieved. 

"On  Thursday,  June  26th,  the  powerful  and 
thoroughly  equipped  army  of  the  enemy  was  in- 
trenched in  works  vast  in  extent,  and  most  for- 
midable in  character,  within  sight  of  our  capitol. 

"To-day,  the  remains  of  that  confident  and 
threatening  host  lie  upon  the  banks  of  the  James 
River,  thirty  miles  from  Richmond,  seeking  to  re- 
cover, under  the  protection  of  his  gun-boats,  from 
the  effects  of  a  series  of  disastrous  defeats. 

"  The  battle  beginning  on  the  afternoon  of  the  26th 
of  June,  above  Mechanicsville,  continued  until  the 
night  of  July  1st,  with  only  such  intervals  as  were 
necessary  to  pursue  and  overtake  the  flying  foe. 
His  strong  intrenchments  and  obstinate  resistance 


116  A    POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1862. 

were  overcome,  and  our  army  swept  resistlessly 
down  the  north  side  of  the  Chickahominy,  until  it 
reached  the  rear  of  the  enemy,  and  broke  his  com- 
munication with  the  York,  capturing  or  causing 
the  destruction  of  many  valuable  stores,  and  by  the 
decisive  battle  of  Friday  forcing  the  enemy  from 
his  line  of  powerful  fortifications  on  the  south  side 
of  the  Chickahominy,  and  driving  him  to  a  pre- 
cipitate retreat.  This  victorious  army  pursued  as 
rapidly  as  the  obstructions  placed  by  the  enemy  in 
his  rear  would  permit,  three  times  overtaking  his 
flying  columns,  and  as  often  driving  him  with 
slaughter  from  the  field,  leaving  his  numerous  dead 
and  wounded  in  our  hands  in  every  conflict. 

"  The  immediate  fruits  of  our  success  are  the  relief 
of  Richmond  from  a  state  of  siege,  the  rout  of  the 
great  army  that  so  long  threatened  its  safety,  many 
thousand  prisoners,  including  officers  of  high  rank, 
the  capture  or  destruction  of  stores  to  the  value  of 
millions,  and  the  acquisition  of  thousands  of  arms, 
and  fifty-one  pieces  of  superior  artillery. 

"  The  service  rendered  to  the  country  in  this  short 
but  eventful  period  can  scarcely  be  estimated,  and 
the  General  commanding  cannot  adequately  ex- 
press his  admiration  of  the  courage,  endurance,  and 
soldierly  conduct  of  the  officers  and  men  engaged. 

"These  brilliant  results  have  cost  us  many  brave 
men ;  but  while  we  mourn  the  loss  of  our  gallant 
dead,  let  us  not  forget  that  they  died  nobly  in  de- 
fence of  their  country's  freedom,  and  have  linked 
their  memory  with  an  event  that  will  live  forever 
in  the  hearts  of  a  grateful  people. 


1862.]  GENERAL    ROBERT    E.  LEE.  117 

"  Soldiers  !  your  country  will  thank  you  for  the 
heroic  conduct  you  have  displayed  —  conduct 
worthy  of  men  engaged  in  a  cause  so  just  and 
sacred,  and  deserving  a  nation's  gratitude  and 
praise. 

"  By  command  of  General  Lee, 

"  R.  IT.  CHILTON,  A.  A.  General." 

On  the  8th  of  July,  General  Lee  took  his  army 
back  to  Richmond,  where  they  were  received  with 
every  demonstration  of  joy. 

Pollard,  in  his  "  Memoirs  of  General  Lee,"  says 
of  these  memorable  engagements :  "  Although  he 
had  not  ascended  to  the  climax  of  success  he  had 
designed,  and  destroyed  MeClcllan,  he  had  accom- 
plished a  great  and  admirable  work  with  an  army 
the  greater  portion  of  which  was  raw  troops." 

In  his  official  report,  General  Lee  wrote: 

"  Under  ordinary  circumstances,  the  Federal  army 
should  have  been  destroyed.  Its  escape  is  due  to 
the  causes  already  stated.  Prominent  among  them 
is  the  want  of  timely  and  correct  information.  This 
fact,  attributable  chiefly  to  the  character  of  the 
country,  enabled  General  McClellan  skilfully  to  con- 
ceal his  retreat,  and  to  add  much  to  the  obstruc- 
tions with  which  nature  had  beset  the  way  of  our 
pursuing  columns. 

"  Regret  that  more  was  not  accomplished  gives 
way  to  gratitude  to  the  Sovereign  Ruler  of  the  Uni- 
verse for  the  results  achieved. 

"  The   siege  of  Richmond  was  raised,  and  the 


118  A   POPULAR   LIFE   OP  [1862. 

object  of  a  campaign  which  had  been  prosecuted, 
after  months  of  preparation,  at  an  enormous  ex- 
penditure of  men  and  money,  completely  frustrated. 
More  than  ten  thousand  prisoners,  including  officers 
of  rank,  fifty-two  pieces  of  artillery,  and  upwards  of 
thirty-five  thousand  stand  of  small  arms,  were  cap- 
tured. The  stores  and  supplies  of  every  description 
which  fell  into  our  hands  were  great  in  amount  and 
value,  but  small  in  comparison  with  those  destroyed 
by  the  enemy.  His  losses  in  battle  exceeded  our 
own,  as  attested  by  the  thousands  of  dead  and 
wounded  left  on  every  field ;  while  his  subsequent 
inaction  shows  in  what  condition  the  survivors 
reached  the  protection  to  which  they  fled." 

It  is  due  to  General  Lee's  great  adversary  that 
every  occasion  should  be  taken  to  place  before  the 
public  the  admirable  letter  which  he  addressed  at 
this  time  to  President  Lincoln,  and  which  is  little 
known  to  the  Southern  people,  who,  when  it  was 
written,  were  cut  off  from  newspapers,  and  since 
the  war  have  had  little  leisure,  little  opportunity, 
and  little  heart,  to  read  the  record  of  the  great 
struggle. 

In  this  letter  General  McClellan  gives  his  views 
(and  they  were  those  of  a  large  party  in  the  North) 
as  to  how  the  war  should  be  carried  on,  and  it  is 
said  that  his  removal  from  the  command  of  the 
army  resulted  from  the  attitude  he  here  assumed. 

Immediately  upon  his  removal  the  Administration 
organized  a  policy  in  great  contrast  with  that  of 


1862.]  GENERAL    ROBERT   E.  LEE.  119 

General  McClellan,  whose  suggestions  were  charac- 
terized by  a  moderation  and  wisdom  which  showed 
him  to  be  a  great  statesman  as  well  as  a  good  sol- 
dier. 

It  is  remarkable  that  this  letter  is  dated  the  7th 
of  July,  after  the  disasters  on  the  Chickahominy, 
when  he  may  be  supposed  to  have  felt  some  resent- 
ment towards  those  who  had  compelled  his  retreat. 

"  This  rebellion  has  assumed  the  character  of  a 
war;  as  such  it  should  be  regarded,  and  it  should 
be  conducted  upon  the  highest  principles  known  to 
Christian  civilization.  It  should  not  be  a  war  look- 
ing to  the  subjection  of  any  State  in  any  event.  It 
should  not  be  at  all  a  war  upon  population,  but 
against  armed  forces  and  political  organization. 
Neither  confiscation  of  property,  political  execu- 
tions, territorial  organizations  of  States,  nor  forcible 
abolition  of  slavery,  should  be  contemplated  for  a 
moment.  In  prosecuting  the  war,  all  private  prop- 
erty and  unarmed  persons  should  be  strictly  pro- 
tected, subject  only  to  the  necessity  of  military 
operations.  All  private  property  taken  for  military 
use  should  be  paid  or  receipted  for;  pillage  and 
waste  should  be  treated  as  high  crimes;  all  unneces- 
sary trespass  sternly  prohibited ;  and  offensive  de- 
meanor by  the  military  toward  citizens  prompt- 
ly rebuked.  Military  arrests  should  not  be  toler- 
ated, except  in  places  where  active  hostilities  exist  ; 
and  oaths  not  required  by  enactments  constitution- 
ally made,  should  be  neither  demanded  nor  received. 
Military  government  should  be  confined  to  the  pres- 


120  A   POPULAR  LIFE  OF  [1862. 

ervation  of  public  order  and  the  protection  of  polit- 
ical right.  Military  power  should  not  be  allowed 
to  interfere  with  the  relations  of  servitude,  either 
by  supporting  or  impairing  the  authority  of  the 
master,  except  for  repressing  disorder,  as  in  other 
cases.  Slaves  contraband  under  the  Act  of  Con- 
gress, seeking  military  protection,  should  receive  it. 
The  right  of  the  Government  to  appropriate  perma- 
nently to  its  own  service  claims  to  slave  labor 
should  be  asserted,  and  the  right  of  the  owner  to 
compensation  therefor  should  be  recognized. 

"  This  principle  might  be  extended  upon  grounds 
of  military  necessity  and  security  to  all  the  slaves 
of  a  particular  State,  thus  working  manumission  in 
such  State;  and  in  Missouri,  perhaps  in  Western 
Virginia  also,  and  possibly  even  in  Maryland,  the 
expediency  of  such  a  measure  is  only  a  question  of 
time. 

"A  system  of  policy  thus  constitutional,  and  per- 
vaded by  the  influences  of  Christianity  and  free- 
dom, would  receive  the  support  of  almost  all  truly 
loyal  men,  would  deeply  impress  the  rebel  masses 
and  all  foreign  nations,  and  it  might  be  humbly 
hoped  that  it  would  commend  itself  to  the  favor  of 
the  Almighty. 

"  Unless  the  principles  governing  the  future  con- 
duct of  our  struggle  shall  be  made  known  and  ap- 
proved, the  effort  to  obtain  requisite  forces  will  be 
almost  hopeless.  A  declaration  of  radical  views, 
especially  upon  slavery,  will  rapidly  disintegrate 
our  present  armies. 

"The  policy  of  the  Government  must  be  sup- 


1862.]          GENERAL   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  121 

ported  by  concentrations  of  military  power.  The 
national  forces  should  not  be  dispersed  in  expe- 
ditions, posts  of  occupation,  and  numerous  armies; 
but  should  be  mainly  collected  into  masses,  and 
brought  to  bear  upon  the  armies  of  the  Confederate 
States.  Those  armies  thoroughly  defeated,  the 
political  structure  which  they  support  would  soon 
cease  to  exist. 

"  In  carrying  out  any  system  of  policy  which  you 
may  form,  you  will  require  a  commander-in-chief 
of  the  army  —  one  who  possesses  your  confidence, 
understands  your  views,  and  who  is  competent  to 
execute  your  orders,  by  directing  the  military  forces 
of  the  nation  to  the  accomplishment  of  the  objects 
by  you  proposed.  I  do  not  ask  that  place  for 
myself.  I  am  willing  to  serve  you  in  such  positions 
as  you  may  assign  me,  and  I  will  do  so  as  faithfully 
as  ever  subordinate  served  superior.  I  may  be  on 
the  brink  of  eternity,  and,  as  I  hope  forgiveness 
from  my  Maker,  I  have  written  this  letter  with  sin- 
cerity toward  you,  and  from  love  for  my  country." 
11 


122  A   POPULAR   LIFE   OP  [1862. 


CHAPTER   XL 

McClellan's  Removal — Pope  in  Command  —  His  Cruel  Orders  — 
General  Lee's  Remonstrance —  Pope's  New  Art  of  War  —  Cedar 
Run  —  General  Lee's  Advance — General  Orders — Second 
Battle  of  Manassas. 

M('CLELLA1S"  was  soon  after  recalled  to  Wash- 
ington, though  he  had  begged  for  reinforce- 
ments in  order  to  renew  the  attack  by  way  of  Peters- 
burg. This  General  Lee  feared  he  would  do,  and 
it  was  the  movement  most  likely  to  accomplish  his 
object,  as  General  Grant  afterwards  demonstrated. 

But  the  advice  of  General  Halleck  prevailed  with 
the  War  Department  at  Washington,  and  a  new 
plan  of  operations  was  determined  on,  which  should 
carry  the  war  into  another  quarter. 

General  Pope  was  put  in  command  of  the  next 
"  Grand  Army."  This  time  the  advance  was  to  be 
made  again  from  the  north  of  Richmond,  as  it  had 
failed  on  the  south. 

General  Pope  had  inaugurated  a  new  system  of 
warfare,  very  different  from  the  humane  and  Chris- 
tian policy  of  McClellan. 

By  his  orders  no  private  property  was  secure 
from  spoliation.  The  troops  of  his  command  were 
allowed  to  plunder  at  will.  And  the  lives  of  the 
unoffending  citizens  were  no  longer  safe,  it  being 
determined  to  hold  as  hostages  some  of  the  most 


1862.]  GENERAL   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  123 

prominent  among  them.  Of  these  hostages  one 
was  to  be  put  to  death  for  every  Federal  soldier 
shot  by  what  he  termed  Confederate  "  bushwhack- 
ers." There  was  nothing  to  justify  these  cruel  mea- 
sures, as  the  so-called  "  bushwhackers  "  were  regu- 
larly enrolled  Confederate  Cavalry.  He  could  only 
have  desired  to  overawe  and  intimidate  the  people 
into  submission. 

Indignant  at  these  barbarous  acts,  General  Lee, 
by  command  of  the  Confederate  authorities,  sent 
the  following  letter  to  the  United  States  Secretary 
of  War. 

"  HEADQUARTERS  ARMY  of  C.  S. 
"  Near  Richmond,  Va.,  August  2,  1802. 

"  To  the  General  commanding  the  United  States 
Army,  Washington. 

"  GENERAL  :  —  In  obedience  to  the  order  of  his 
Excellency  the  President  of  the  Confederate  States, 
I  have  the  honor  to  make  you  the  following  com- 
munication : 

"  On  the  22d  of  July  last,  a  cartel  for  a  general 
exchange  of  prisoners  was  signed  by  Major-General 
John  A.  Dix,  on  behalf  of  the  United  States,  and 
by  Major-Gcneral  D.  II.  Hill,  on  the  part  of  this 
Government.  By  the  terms  of  that  cartel  it  is 
stipulated  that  all  prisoners-of-war  hereafter  taken 
shall  be  discharged  on  parole  until  exchanged. 
Scarcely  had  the  cartel  been  signed,  when  the  mili- 
tary authorities  of  the  United  States  commenced  a 
practice  changing  the  character  of  the  war,  from 


124  A    POPULAR   LIFE  OP  [1862. 

such  as  becomes  civilized  nations,  into  a  campaign 
of  indiscriminate  robbery  and  murder. 

"  A  general  order,  issued  by  Major-General  Pope 
on  the  23d  of  July  last,  the  day  after  the  date  of 
the  cartel,  directs  the  murder  of  our  peaceful  citi- 
zens as  spies,  if  found  quietly  tilling  their  farms  in 
his  rear,  even  outside  of  his  lines. 

"  And  one  of  his  Brigadier-Generals,  Steinwehr, 
has  seized  innocent  and  peaceful  inhabitants,  to  be 
held  as  hostages,  to  the  end  that  they  may  be  mur- 
dered in  cold  blood  if  any  of  his  soldiers  are  killed 
by  some  unknown  persons,  whom  he  designates  as 
'  bushwhackers.'  Some  of  the  military  authori- 
ties seem  to  suppose  that  their  end  will  be  better 
attained  by  a  savage  war,  in  which  no  quarter  is  to 
be  given,  and  no  age  or  sex  is  to  be  spared,  than 
by  such  hostilities  as  are  alone  recognized  to  be 
lawful  in  modern  times.  We  find  ourselves  driven 
by  our  enemies  by  steady  progress  toward  a  prac- 
tice which  we  abhor,  and  which  we  are  vainly 
struggling  to  avoid. 

"  Under  these  circumstances,  this  Government 
lias  issued  the  accompanying  order,  which  I  am 
directed  by  the  President  to  transmit  to  you,  recog- 
nizing Major-General  Pope,  and  his  commissioned 
officers,  to  be  in  the  position  which  they  have 
chosen  for  themselves  —  that  of  robbers  and  mur- 
derers, and  not  that  of  public  enemies,  entitled,  if 
captured,  to  be  treated  as  prisoners-of-war. 

"  The  President  also  instructs  me  to  inform  you 
that  we  renounce  our  right  of  retaliation  on  the 
innocent,  and  will  continue  to  treat  the  private  sol- 


1862.]  GENERAL,    ROBERT    E.  L.EE.  125 

cliers  of  General  Pope's  army  as  prisoners-of-war ; 
but  if,  after  notice  to  your  Government  that  they 
confine  repressive  measures  to  the  punishment  of 
commissioned  officers  who  are  willing  to  participate 
in  these  crimes,  the  savage  practices  threatened  in 
the  orders  alluded  to  be  persisted  in,  we  shall  re- 
luctantly be  forced  to  the  last  resort  of  accepting 
the  war  on  the  terms  chosen  by  our  enemies,  until 
the  voice  of  an  outraged  humanity  shall  compel  a 
respect  for  the  recognized  usages  of  war.  While 
the  President  considers  that  the  facts  referred  to 
would  justify  a  refusal  on  our  part  to  execute  the 
cartel  by  which  we  have  agreed  to  liberate  an  ex- 
cess of  prisoners-of-war  in  our  hands,  a  sacred  re- 
gard to  plighted  faith,  which  shrinks  from  the  sem- 
blance of  breaking  a  promise,  precludes  a  resort  to 
such  an  extremity,  nor  is  it  his  desire  to  extend  to 
any  other  forces  of  the  United  States  the  punish- 
ment merited  by  General  Pope,  and  such  commis- 
sioned officers  as  choose  to  participate  in  the  exe- 
cution of  his  infamous  order. 

"  I  have  the  honor  to  be,  very  respectfully, 
"  Your  obedient  servant, 
"R.  E.  LEE,  General  Commanding." 

This  communication  had  the  desired  effect,  and 
the  order  was  afterwards  rescinded. 

General  Pope  entered  upon  his  Virginia  cam- 
paign with  the  bold  determination  to  see  nothing 
but  the  "  backs  of  his  enemies."  lie  told  his  troops 
to  "  look  before  and  not  behind.  Success  and  glory 
are  in  the  advance;  disaster  and  shame  lurk  in  the 
11* 


126  A    POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1862. 

rear."  He  said  to  them,  "  I  constantly  hear  of  tak- 
ing strong  positions  and  holding  them,  —  of  lines 
of  retreat  and  bases  of  supplies,"  and  bade  them 
"  dismiss  such  ideas ; "  his  headquarters  were  to  be 
"  in  the  saddle."  He  had  boasted,  that,  with  an 
army  like  McOlcllan's,  he  saw  nothing  to  prevent 
his  marching  from  "Washington  to  New  Orleans ! 

The  first  obstacle  that  checked  his  confident 
career  was  none  other  than  the  formidable  "  Stone- 
wall." 

General  Lee  had  detached  this  commander  from 
the  main  army  to  meet  Pope's  threatened  advance, 
though  still  in  doubt  whether  McClellan,  who  yet 
remained  on  the  James  River,  might  not  from  that 
"  base  "  make  another  attempt  upon  Richmond. 

Jackson  marched  towards  Culpepper,  crossed  the 
Rapidan  on  the  8th  of  August,  and  on  the  9th 
fought  Banks's  Corps,  in  the  battle  of  Cedar  Run, 
near  Culpepper  Court-IIouse.  This  was  followed 
by  the  retreat  of  General  Pope  to  the  other  side  of 
the  Rappahannock. 

It  was  in  this  engagement,  when  the  fight  was 
fiercest,  and  the  sorely  pressed  forces  of  Early 
began  to  waver,  that  Jackson,  detaching  a  portion 
of  A.  P.  Hill's  division  that  had  just  been  sent  to 
him,  threw  himself  upon  the  foe  in  a  charge  that 
decided  the  fate  of  the  day.  Again  the  men  cried 
"  Stonewall  Jackson !  Stonewall  Jackson ! "  in  tones 
of  joy  and  triumph,  and  the  hero  himself  forgot  in 


1862.]  GENERAL   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  127 

the  enthusiasm  of  the  hour,  that  he  was  other  than 
a  "  simple  colonel  leading  his  regiment !  "  The 
Confederates  occupied  the  field  when  darkness  put 
an  end  to  the  struggle. 

General  Lee  having  brought  up  the  remainder 
of  his  army,  now  determined  upon  a  movement 
that  should  surprise  and  confound  his  adversary, 
from  its  very  improbability  and  apparent  disregard 
of  the  rules  of  war. 

The  following  are  General  Lee's  orders  issued  at 
this  time : 

"  HEADQUARTERS  ARMY  NORTHERN  VIRGINIA, 
"  August  19th,  1862. 

"  SPECIAL  ORDER,  No.  185. 

"  I.  General  Longstreet's  command,  constituting 
the  right  wing  of  the  army,  will  cross  the  Rapidan 
at  Raccoon  Ford,  and  move  in  the  direction  of  Cul- 
pepper  Court-House.  General  Jackson's  command, 
constituting  the  left  wing,  will  cross  at  Summer- 
ville  Ford,  and  move  in  the  same  direction,  keeping 
on  the  left  of  General  Longstreet.  General  Ander- 
son's division  will  cross  at  Summerville  Ford,  fol- 
low the  route  of  General  Jackson,  and  act  in 
reserve.  The  battalion  of  light  artillery,  under 
Colonel  S.  D.  Lee,  will  take  the  same  route.  The 
cavalry  under  General  Stuart  will  cross  at  Mor- 
ton's Ford,  pursue  the  route  by  Stevensburg  to 
Rappahannock  Station,  destroy  the  railroad-bridge, 
cut  the  enemy's  communications  and  telegraph-line, 
and,  operating  toward  Culpepper  Court-IIouse,  will 
take  position  on  General  Longstreet's  right. 


128  A    POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1862. 

"  II.  The  commanders  of  each  wing  will  desig- 
nate the  reserve  for  their  commands.  Medical  and 
ammunition  wagons  will  alone  follow  the  troops 
across  the  Kapidan.  The  baggage  and  supply 
trains  will  be  parked  under  their  respective  officers, 
in  secure  positions  on  the  south  side,  so  as  not  to 
embarrass  the  different  roads. 

"  III.  Cooked  rations  for  three  days  will  be  car- 
ried in  the  haversacks  of  the  men,  and  provision 
must  be  made  for  foraging  the  animals.  Straggling 
from  the  ranks  is  strictly  prohibited,  and  com- 
manders will  make  arrangements  to  secure  and 
punish  the  offenders. 

"IV.  The  movements  herein  directed  will  com- 
mence to-morrow,  20th  instant,  at  dawn  of  day. 
"By  command  of  General  li.  E.  Lee, 

"  A.  P.  MASON,  A.  A.  G." 

"  HEADQUARTERS  CRENSHAW'S  FARM, 

"  August  19th,  1862. 
"  General  J.  E.  B.  STUART,  commanding  Cavalry. 

"  GENERAL  : — I  desire  you  to  rest  your  men  to-day, 
refresh  your  horses,  prepare  rations  and  everything 
for  the  march  to-morrow.  Get  what  information 
you  can  of  fords,  roads,  and  position  of  the  enemy, 
so  that  your  march  can  be  made  undcrstandingly 
and  with  vigor.  I  send  to  you  Captain  Mason,  an 
experienced  bridge-builder,  &c.,  who  I  think  will 
be  able  to  aid  you  in  the  destruction  of  the  bridge. 
When  that  is  accomplished,  or  when  in  train  of  ex- 
ecution, as  circumstances  permit,  I  wish  you  to 
operate  back  toward  Culpcpper  Court-House,  creat- 
ing such  confusion  and  consternation  as  you  can, 


1862.]  GENERAL   KOBERT   E.  LEE.  129 

without  unnecessarily  exposing  your  men,  till  you 
feel  Longstreet'e  right.  Take  position  there  on  his 
right,  and  hold  yourself  in  reserve,  and  act  as 
circumstances  may  require. 

"  I  wish  to  know  during  the  day  how  you  proceed 
in  your  preparations.  They  will  require  the  per- 
sonal attention  of  all  your  officers.  The  last  re- 
ports from  the  signal  stations  yesterday  evening 
were,  that  the  enemy  was  breaking  up  his  principal 
encampments  and  moving  in  direction  of  Culpep- 
per  Court-House. 

"  Very  respectfully,  &c. 

"  R.  E.  LEE,  General." 

Jackson  was  ordered  to  put  himself  in  Pope's 
rear,  destroy  the  supplies  at  Manassas,  where  Pope 
had  collected  large  stores,  and  then  fall  hack  to  a 
junction  with  Longstreet,  who  was  to  march  to 
his  aid. 

When  the  news  of  the  destruction  of  the  stores 
at  Manassas  reached  Pope,  he  supposed  it  to  have 
been  the  work  of  a  mere  skirmishing  party.  Great 
was  his  surprise  and  exultation  when  he  found  that 
General  Lee  had  actually  separated  his  army,  and 
that  Jackson  was,  as  it  were,  already  in  the  lion's 
jaws.  He  wrote  McDowell  to  hasten  to  the  spot, 
declaring  "  we  shall  bag  the  whole  crowd.*'  Jack- 
son saw  his  danger  and  knew  just  how7  to  escape  it. 
He  lost  not  a  moment  at  Manassas,  but  setting  fire 
to  the  rich  spoils  that  his  worn  veterans  needed  so 
sorely,  retreated  as  swiftly  and  mysteriously  as  he 


130  A   POPULAR    LIFE  OF  [1862. 

had  arrived.  When  McDowell  came  up,  Jackson 
was  nowhere  to  be  found.  One  of  the  Federal 
officers  telegraphed  to  Washington:  "I  expect  they 
(the  Confederates)  know  what  they  are  doing,  which 
is  more  than  any  one  here  or  anywhere  knows." 

In  the  meanwhile  Lee  was  marching  rapidly  for- 
ward with  the  remainder  of  his  forces.  Pope  found 
Jackson  at  Grovcton,  where  an  engagement  took 
place  on  the  29th.  So  ignorant  was  General  Pope 
of  the  movements  of  the  Confederates,  that  he  was 
not  aware  of  Longstreet's  proximity  at  all,  but 
thought  he  had  only  to  do  battle  against  Jackson's 
twenty  thousand. 

The  great  battle  was  fought  on  the  30th  —  to  be 
known  in  history  as  the  "  Second  Battle  of  Manas- 
sas."  On  very  nearly  the  same  ground  that  had 
witnessed  the  bloody  conflict  of  '61,  the  same  issue 
was  to  be  tried  over  again.  Only  as  regards  posi- 
tion, "the  opponents  had  changed  sides.  Johnston 
and  Beauregard  had  assailed  in  old  days  from  the 
direction  of  Manassas;  it  was  now  Pope  who  had 
his  base  there." 

During  the  first  part  of  the  day  the  artillery  prin- 
cipally were  engaged;  towards  evening  the  infantry 
came  to  their  aid.  Jackson  and  Longstreet — the  one 
on  the  left,  the  other  on  the  right — charged  in  force. 
Cooke  *  says  of  this  battle :  "  It  was  one  of  the 
most  desperate  of  the  war,  and  one  of  the  blood- 

*  Hummer  and  Rapitr. 


1862.]  GENERAL    ROBERT   E.  LEE.  131 

iest.  The  lieutenants  of  General  Pope  were  abler 
than  their  commander.  They  attacked  with  a  gal- 
lantry which  more  than  once  threatened  to  sweep 
before  it  the  Confederate  line  of  battle;  and  in 
charge  after  charge,  in  the  face  of  frightful  volleys 
of  small  arms  and  artillery,  essayed  to  break  through 
the  bristling  hedge  of  bayonets  before  them."  He 
describes  the  assault  upon  the  Confederate  centre  ; 
how  charge  after  charge  was  made  and  repulsed;  and 
"  then,"  continues  the  narrative,  "  the  great  field 
between  the  adversaries  suddenly  swarmed  with 
Jackson's  men,  rushing  forward  in  the  wildest  dis- 
order, without  pretence  of  a  line,  and  '  every  man 
for  himself,'  toward  the  enemy.  For  a  few  minutes 
the  field  thus  presented  a  spectacle  of  apparent  dis- 
organization, which  would  have  made  a  European 
officer  tremble.  Then  suddenly  all  changed  as  the 
men  drew  near  the  enemy ;  they  checked  their 
headlong  speed ;  those  in  front  stopped,  those  in 
rear  closed  up ;  the  lines  were  dressed  as  straight  as 
an  arrow,  with  the  battle-flags  rippling  as  they 
moved ;  cheers  resounded,  and  the  regiments  en- 
tered the  woods,  from  which  rose  the  long  continu- 
ous crash  of  musketry,  as  the  opposing  lines  came 
together." 

As  the  evening  wore  on,  the  Confederates  were 
steadily  advancing.  They  had  gained  another  vic- 
tory on  the  banks  of  Bull  Run.  General  Pope  was 
hopelessly  routed,  and  fell  back  from  Manassas 


132  A   POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1862. 

only  to  retreat  in  a  day  or  two  within  the  lines  at 
Washington.  Seven  thousand  prisoners  were  pa- 
roled on  the  field. 

Thus  ended  the  third  advance  upon  Richmond. 
The  superior  generalship  of  Lee  had  once  more 
baffled  the  schemes  of  a  Federal  Lieutenant.  The 
endurance  and  valor  of  his  men  were  such  as  find 
few  parallels  in  history.  General  Lee  is  reported 
to  have  said,  in  allusion  to  their  gaunt  and  ragged 
appearance,  that  there  was  one  occasion  when  he 
was  never  ashamed  of  them,  —  "  when  they  were 
fighting." 

The  Confederate  losses  in  this  campaign  amount- 
ed  in  all  to  nine  thousand  one  hundred  and  twelve, 
including  four  generals  who  were  wounded,  Ewell, 
Taliafero,  Field,  and  Trimble. 

The  Federal  losses  greatly  exceeded  this,  amount- 
ing to  over  thirty  thousand.  They  had  eight  gen- 
erals killed,  and  left  two  thousand  wounded  in  the 
hands  of  the  Confederates,  besides  the  prisoners 
paroled  or  captured.  They  lost  "  thirty  pieces  of 
artillery,  twenty  thousand  stand  of  small  arms, 
numerous  colors,  and  a  large  amount  of  stores,  be- 
sides those  taken  by  General  Jackson  at  Manassas." 


1862.]  GENERAL   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  133 


CHAPTER  XII. 

Crossing  the  Potomac  —  Address  to  the  People   of   Maryland  — 
Boonsboro  Gap  —  Harper's  Ferry. 


rriHE  situation  was  now  most  favorable  to  the  Con- 
-•-  federates.  North-eastern  Virginia  was  freed 
from  the  occupation  of  the  enemy,  and  the  Federal 
troops  stationed  at  Winchester  had  retired  to  Har- 
per's Ferry. 

A  Northern  correspondent  writes  from  Washing- 
ton ahout  this  time  :  "  After  fifteen  months  of  toil 
and  bloodshed,  we  have  now  returned  to  the  start- 
ing point,  and  the  whole  work  lias  to  he  commenced 
over  again."  The  Valley  of  Virginia  once  more 
thrown  open  to  the  Southern  army,  afforded  valuable 
resources  which  had  before  helped  to  subsist  the 
enemy. 

A  candid  Northern  historian  says  : 

"  The  success  of  the  campaign  had  been  remark- 
able. From  the  front  of  Richmond  tlie  theatre  of 
operations  had  been  transferred  to  the  front  of 
Washington;  the  Union  armies  had  been  reduced 
to  a  humiliating  defensive,  and  the  rich  harvests  of 
the  Shenandoah  Valley  and  Northern  Virginia  were 
the  prize  of  the  victors.  To  crown  and  consolidate 
these  conquests,  Lee  now  determined  to  cross  the 
frontier  into  Maryland."  * 

*  Swinton. 
12 


134  A   POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1862. 

This  movement  was  greatly  favored  by  the 
Southern  people,  who,  having  experienced  the  suf- 
ferings entailed  by  the  presence  of  an  invading 
army,  were  naturally  anxious  that  the  North  should 
in  turn  feel  these  hardships,  and  realize  the  war  in 
another  manner  than  in  the  money  speculations  by 
which  many  so  profited. 

It  was  always  part  of  General  Lee's  plan  to  carry 
the  war  as  far  from  Richmond  as  possible;  and 
while  his  troops  were  elated  by  their  recent  suc- 
cesses, and  the  forces  of  Pope  were  disorganized,  it 
was  deemed  the  fit  moment  to  push  forward  into 
their  own  territory. 

"  The  war  was  thus  transferred,"  he  says,  "  from 
the  interior  to  the  frontier,  and  the  supplies  of  rich 
and  productive  districts  made  accessible  to  our 
army.  To  prolong  a  state  of  affairs  in  every  way 
desirable,  and  not  to  permit  the  season  for  active 
operations  to  pass  without  endeavoring  to  inflict 
other  injury  upon  the  enemy,  the  best  course  ap- 
peared to  be  the  transfer  of  the  army  into  Mary- 
land." 

Besides,  it  was  believed  at  the  South  that  the 
people  of  Maryland  only  awaited  the  appearance 
of  the  Confederates,  to  rise  en  masse  to  join  them. 

Thousands  of  her  youths  filled  the  ranks  of  the 
Virginia  army,  and  exiled  families  were  continually 
coming  over  the  border,  with  tales  of  wrong  and 
oppression  that  called  tor  reparation. 


1862.]  GENERAL   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  135 

But  while  the  Southern  sympathy  of  the  greater 
portion  of  her  inhabitants  was  undoubtedly  deep 
and  genuine,  the  Western  part  of  the  State,  like 
Western  Virginia,  held  many  inimical  to  the  Con- 
federate cause. 

It  was  through  this  region  that  General  Lee  was 
compelled  to  pass  —  a  region  whose  proximity  to 
Pennsylvania,  settled,  as  it  was,  by  the  same  class 
of  people,  made  it  seem  little  better  than  a  con- 
tinuation of  that  "  loyal  "  district. 

It  is  not  probable  that  the  cool  and  clear-headed 
commander  shared  to  any  great  extent  the  confi- 
dent hopes  of  soldiers  and  citizens  as  to  the  result 
of  their  mission.  lie  says: 

"  The  condition  of  things  in  Maryland  *  en- 
couraged the  belief  that  the  presence  of  our  army, 
however  inferior  to  that  of  the  enemy,  would  in- 
duce the  Washington  Government  to  retain  all  its 
available  force  to  provide  for  contingencies,  which 
its  course  toward  the  people  of  that  State  gave  it 
reason  to  apprehend,'  and  '  might  afford  us  an  op- 
portunity to  aid  the  citizens  of  Maryland  in  any 
efforts  they  might  be  disposed  to  make  to  recover 
their  liberty.'  " 

To  the  sounds  of  martial  music,  singing  the 
popular  air,  "  Maryland,  my  Maryland,"  the  "  rag- 
ged Rebels  "  *  crossed  the  river,  excited  and  joyful 

*  "  Thousands,"  says  General  Lee,  "  were  destitute  of  shoes." 


136  A   POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1862. 

at  the  accomplishment  of  their  long  cherished  wish. 
Many  were  Marylanders,  and  hailed  the  redemption 
of  their  native  State  from  what  they  esteemed  a 
hateful  bondage.  Many  Virginians  looked  for  the 
first  time  since  the  beginning  of  the  conflict  on 
the  noble  stream,  which  miles  away  flowed  by  their 
lost  homesteads.  To  all  alike  it  was  a  proud  and 
joyful  moment. 

The  correspondent  of  a  Northern  Journal  thus 
wrote  of  the  appearance  of  these  troops : 

"  I  had  heard  much  of  the  decayed  appearance 
of  the  Rebel  soldiers,  but  such  a  looking  crowd! 

7  O 

Ireland,  in  her  worst  straits,  could  present  no 
parallel,  and  yet  they  glory  in  their  shame !  " 

"  Never,"  says  General  Jones,  who  commanded 
the  old  Stonewall  Division,  "  had  the  army  been  so 
dirty,  ragged,  and  ill  provided  for,  as  on  this  march." 

The  most  perfect  discipline  was  maintained  by 
the  Southern  troops.  Not  a  fence  was  displaced 
without  being  paid  for.  In  marked  contrast  to  the 
course  of  General  Pope,  it  was  strictly  enjoined 
upon  the  troops  to  treat  all  who  professed  Union 
sentiments  with  "  kindness  and  forbearance."  * 

The  passage  of  the  Potomac  was  made  on  the  3d 

*0ne  of  the  officers  of  General  Lee's  staff  gives  an  amusing 
story  of  a  "Yankee  school-inarm"  in  Hngerstown,  who,  when 
the  army  inarched  through  that  place,  thinking  to  insult  them, 
and  perhaps  bring  upon  herself  that  "martyrdom"  which  it  was 
the  constant  endeavor  of  such  people  to  secure,  rushed  from  her 
house,  followed  by  a  train  of  young  girls,  planted  herself  in  front 


1862.]  GENERAL    ROBERT    E.  T,  E  E .  137 

of  September,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Monocaey,  as 
the  strength  of  the  Federal  works  at  Washington 
and  Alexandria  rendered  the  attempt  impracticable 
farther  down. 

In  one  of  the  actions  of  this  campaign,  General 
Lee  met  with  an  accident  which  came  near  being 
very  serious.  He  had  dismounted,  and  was  holding 
his  horse  with  the  bridle  twisted  about  his  arm. 
The  animal,  suddenly  frightened  by  the  firing, 
threw  his  master  to  the  ground,  injuring  both  his 
hands,  the  bones  of  the  left  one  being  broken. 

Having  assembled  his  army  at  Frederick,  Gen- 
eral Lee  issued  to  the  people  of  Maryland  the  fol- 
lowing address. 

"  HEAPQTTATITERS  ARMY  OF  NORTHERN  VIRGINIA, 
"  Near  FREDERICK,  Sept,  8th,  1862. 

"  To  THE  PEOPLE  OF  MARYLAND. 

"It  is  right  that  you  should  know  the  purpose 
that  has  brought  the  army  under  my  command 

of  General  Lee,  and  commenced  singing  in  loud  tones,  "  The  Star- 
spangled  Banner." 

General  Lee,  with  his  usual  politeness,  lifted  his  hat  to  her,  and 
immediately  gave  orders  that  no  one  should  speak  to  or  molest 
the  group. 

It  is  related  that,  foiled  in  her  attempt  to  make  a  scene  by  this 
display  of  "patriotism,"  she  retired  rather  discomfited. 

Very  different  was  the  feeling  elicited  by  his  presence  upon  a 
young  and  beautiful  girl,  when  on  a  later  occasion  he  passed 
through  the  same  town. 

Standing  upon  the  sidewalk  with  a  group  of  ladies,  collected  to 
see  the  army  puss,  she  exclaimed,  in  her  enthusiasm,  aloud,  "Oh 
what  a  magnificent  man  !   Why  its  lie  not  on  our  side?  " 
12* 


138  A    POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1862. 

within  the  limits  of  your  State,  so  far  as  that  pur- 
pose concerns  yourselves. 

"  The  people  of  the  Confederate  States  have  long 
watched  with  the  deepest  sympathy  the  wrongs  and 
outrages  that  have  been  inflicted  upon  the  citizens 
of  a  Commonwealth  allied  to  the  States  of  the 
South  by  the  strongest  social,  political,  and  com- 
mercial ties. 

"They  have  seen  with  profound  indignation  their 
sister  State  deprived  of  every  right,  and  reduced  to 
the  condition  of  a  conquered  province.  Under  the 
pretence  of  supporting  the  Constitution,  but  in  vio- 
lation of  its  most  valuable  provisions,  your  citizens 
have  been  arrested  and  imprisoned  upon  no  charge, 
and  contrary  to  all  forms  of  law.  The  faithful  and 
manly  protest  against  this  outrage,  made  by  the 
venerable  and  illustrious  Marylandcrs — to  whom 
in  better  days  no  citizen  appealed  in  vain  —  was 
treated  with  contempt  and  scorn.  The  govern- 
ment of  your  chief  city  has  been  usurped  by  armed 
strangers ;  your  Legislature  has  been  dissolved  by 
the  unlawful  arrest  of  its  members;  freedom  of 
speech  and  of  the  press  has  been  suppressed ;  words 
have  been  declared  offences  by  an  arbitrary  decree 
of  the  Federal  Executive,  and  citizens  ordered  to 
be  tried  by  military  commissions  for  what  they  may 
dare  to  speak. 

"  Believing  that  the  people  of  Maryland  possess 
a  spirit  too  lofty  to  submit  to  such  a  government, 
the  people  of  the  South  have  long  wished  to  aid  you 
in  throwing  off  this  foreign  yoke,  to  enable  you 
again  to  enjoy  the  inalienable  rights  of  freemen,  and 


1862.]  GENERAL   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  139 

restore  the  independence  and  sovereignty  of  your 
State.  In  obedience  to  this  wish,  our  army  has 
come  among  you,  and  is  prepared  to  assist  you  with 
the  power  of  its  arms  in  regaining  the  rights  of 
which  you  have  been  so  unjustly  despoiled.  This, 
citizens  of  Maryland,  ia  our  mission,  so  far  as  you 
are  concerned.  No  restraint  on  your  free  will  is 
intended;  no  intimidation  will  be  allowed,  within 
the  limits  of  this  army  at  least.  Marylanders  shall 
once  more  enjoy  their  ancient  freedom  of  thought 
and  speech.  We  know  no  enemies  among  you, 
and  will  protect  all  of  you  in  every  opinion.  It  is 
for  you  to  decide  your  destiny,  freely  and  without 
constraint.  This  army  will  respect  your  choice, 
whatever  it  may  be ;  and  while  the  Southern  people 
will  rejoice  to  welcome  you  to  your  natural  position 
among  them,  they  will  only  welcome  you  when  you 
come  in  of  your  own  free  will. 

"  R.  E.  LEE,  General  Commanding." 

Recruiting  offices  were  opened,  but  few  responded 
to  the  call.  There  was  little  active  sympathy  ex- 
pected from  those  immediately  in  the  Confederate 
lines,  and  it  was  soon  clearly  perceived  that  the 
arm  of  the  Federal  power  lay  too  heavily  upon  the 
oppressed  sections,  to  allow  any  hope  of  a  general 
uprising.  With  Lee  so  far  on  their  north-western 
border,  the  Federal  capital  in  their  midst,  and  every 
foot  of  ground  patrolled  by  Union  guards,  it  might 
well  seem  hopeless. 

General  Lee,  in  the  meanwhile,  was  preparing 


140  A    POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1862. 

for  action.  lie  had  supposed  Harper's  Ferry  would 
have  been  evacuated,  as  soon  as  it  was  known  that 
the  Southern  army  was  in  Maryland.  Such  was 
manifestly  the  dictate  of  military  prudence.  But 
disregarding  the  advice  of  McCIellan,  who  was 
once  more  put  in  command  of  the  Federal  forces, 
General  Halleck  ordered  the  garrison  to  remain 
there. 

General  Lee,  to  whom  its  reduction  was  then  a 
matter  of  great  importance,  in  order  to  keep  open 
his  communications  with  the  Valley,  sent  General 
Jackson  forward  for  this  purpose. 

This  unexpected  obstacle  caused  some  delay  and 
change  of  programme.  General  McClcllan  is  re- 
presented to  have  been  in  evident  perplexity  as  to 
his  adversary's  movements,  when  by  a  singular  and 
unfortunate  accident  lie  came  into  possession  of  the 
plan  of  campaign.  An  order  sent  by  General  Lee 
to  one  of  his  Division  commanders  had  been  found 
on  the  floor  of  a  house  in  Frederick.  Picked  up 
by  a  Federal  soldier,  it  was  forwarded  by  him  to 
his  Commander-in-Chief,  thus  affording  him  the  in- 
calculable advantage  of  knowing  beforehand  ex- 
actly what  would  be  the  disposition  of  the  enemy's 
troops. 

Of  course,  his  first  object  was  to  send  succor  to 
Harper's  Ferry. 

General  Lee,  though  surprised  at  his  designs 
being  anticipated,  lost  no  time  in  dispatching  D. 


1862.]  GENERAL   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  141 

H.  Hill  to  dispute  with  the  enemy  the  passage  of 
Boonsboro  Gap,  through  which  McClcllan  hoped  to 
reach  Harper's  Ferry  and  relieve  the  garrison. 

A  severe  action  then  ensued  at  South  Mountain, 
near  Boonshoro,  which  lasted  five  hours,  with 
heavy  loss  on  both  sides.  The  Confederates  held 
their  ground  gallantly,  and  kept  the  Federal  forces 
in  check  until  General  Jackson  had  completed  the 
reduction  of  Harper's  Ferry.  "When  McClellan 
succeeded  in  passing  the  Gap,  it  was  too  late ;  Jack- 
son, always  prompt  and  energetic,  had  accomplished 
his  object. 

On  the  15th  of  September,  Harper's  Ferry,  with 
its  valuable  armory,  yielded  to  the  soldiers  of 
"  Stonewall."  "  Eleven  thousand  troops  were  sur- 
rendered, together  with  seventy-three  pieces  of 
artillery,  thirteen  thousand  stand  of  arms,  two  hun- 
dred wagons,  and  a  large  amount  of  stores." 

McClellan  had  been  foiled  in  his  attempt  to  cut 
off  Jackson.  Already  the  latter  was  hastening  to 
unite  himself  with  Lee,  leaving  General  A.  P.  Hill 
to  settle  the  terms  of  the  surrender.  By  the  16th, 
the  Southern  forces  were  again  united  near  the 
little  village  of  Sharpsburg,  which  was  to  give  its 
name  to  the  great  battle  about  to  follow. 


142  A   POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1862. 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

The  Battle  of  Sharpsburg —  Recrossing  the  Potomac  — General 
Lee's  Address  to  his  Army  —  Review  of  the  Campaign  —  Per- 
sonal Incidents. 

ON  the  morning  of  the  17th,  "  33,000  Confede- 
rates were  in  line  of  battle  to  engage  a  united 
army  which  certainly  exceeded  100,000  men,* 
within  the  limits  of  the  iield." 

Before  sunrise  the  combat  opened.  The  fiercest 
fighting  was  on  the  left,  for  here  the  Confederate 
army  "  touched  the  Potomac,"  and  McClellan's 
object  was  to  drive  them  "  into  the  river."  The 
position  of  Lee  is  thus  briefly  described  by  Cooke,f 
"  His  back  to  Sharpsburg,  his  left  hand  touching 
the  Potomac,  his  right  extending  into  the  angle 
formed  by  the  river  and  Antietam  Creek." 

Hooker  commenced  the  assault  by  a  furious 
attack  upon  the  Confederate  left,  which  was  held 
by  Jackson's  troops.  With  his  corps  of  eighteen 
thousand  men  he  made  such  havoc  with  Jackson's 
four  thousand,  as  to  destroy  "  more  than  half  the 
brigades  forming  the  first  line." 

O  O 

But   the    Confederates   held   their  ground  until 

*  General   McClellan  suys :   "Our  forces  were  total,  in  action, 
eighty-seven  thousand  one  hundred  and  seventy-four." 
j-  Hammer  and  Rapier. 


1862.]         GENERAL   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  143 

Hooker  was  reinforced,  when  they  gave  way.  At 
this  critical  moment,  portions  of  McLaws'  and 
Walker's  divisions  coining  to  their  aid,  they  threw 
themselves  afresh  upon  the  Federal  lines,  and  com- 
pelled them  finally  to  fall  back.  Jackson  drove 
them  half  a  mile,  and  then  took  up  his  position  on 
the  line  he  had  held  in  the  morning. 

Though  this  was  considered  the  most  important 
achievement  of  the  day,  on  other  parts  of  the  field 
the  interest  was  hardly  less  great. 

Owing  to  some  misunderstanding  of  orders, 
General  Rodes's  brigade  was  withdrawn  from  the 
centre  at  a  time  when  it,  was  most  desirable  to 
keep  there  a  strong  force.  General  D.  II.  Hill 
seeing  the  situation,  that  there  was  danger  of  the 
army  being  divided,  moved  hastily  up  at  the  head 
of  two  hundred  men.  A  gallant  charge  was  made 
upon  the  Federal  hosts,  who  were  rapidly  filling  up 
the  vacant  space ;  a  battery  of  the  Washington  Artil- 
lery was  thrown  forward;  and  being  nearly  disabled, 
General  Longstreet  himself  worked  one  of  the 
guns  that  stood  near  him.  One  company  of  the  27th 
North  Carolina  faced  the  enemy,  "  standing  boldly 
in  line  without  a  cartridge,"  as  General  Lee  after- 
wards reported.  The  Federal  advance  upon  the 
Confederate  centre  was  checked,  and  they  were 
compelled  to  withdraw. 

On  the  right,  Burnside  was  ordered  by  McClellau 
to  take  the  bridge  over  the  Antietam,  which  was 


144  A   POPULAR   LIFE  OF  [1862. 

held  by  General  Toombs,  of  Georgia,  with  only 
four  hundred  and  three  men.  General  Toombs,  in 
his  report,  says :  "  Though  the  bridge  and  upper 
ford  were  thus  left  open  to  the  enemy,  such  was 
his  extreme  caution,  that  he  lost  nearly  two  hours 
in  crossing  and  getting  into  action  on  our  side  of 
the  river ;  about  which  time  A.  P.  Hill's  Division 
arrived  from  Harper's  Ferry."  These  Georgians 
five  times  repelled  the  charge,  until,  at  length, 
Burnside,  by  crossing  lower  down,  gained  his  ob- 
ject, and  Toombs  was  forced  to  retire.  But  Burn- 
side  fearing  to  attempt  more,  stopped  at  the  bridge, 
until  a  peremptory  order  from  McClellan  reached 
him,  by  which  he  was  directed  to  take  the  batteries 
beyond.  These  were  held  by  General  Jones  with 
a  small  force.  After  a  brief,  though  obstinate 
defence,  they  were  taken  by  Burnside,  but  only 
held  a  short  time,  when  General  A.  P.  Hill,  arriv- 
ing opportunely  from  Harper's  Ferry,  was  sent  to 
recover  them.  This  was  successfully  accomplished, 
and  Burnside  driven  back  to  the  bridge.  A 
graphic  account  is  given  by  the  correspondent  of  a 
Northern  paper,  of  this  part  of  the  action,  and  the 
importance  that  attached  to  Burnside's  holding  his 
ground. 

McClellan  had  no  fresh  troops  to  send  to  his  aid, 
when  Burnside's  messenger  rides  up.  "  His  mes- 
sage is :  'I  want  troops  and  guns.  If  you  do  not 
send  them,  I  cannot  hold  rny  position  half  an  hour.' 


1862.]          GENERAL,    ROBERT    E.  LEE.  145 

McClcllan's  only  answer  for  the  moment  is  a  glance 
at  the  western  sky.  Then  he  turns  and  speaks  very 
slowly:  'Tell  General  Burnsidc  this  is  the  battle  of 
the.  war.  He  mnst  hold  his  ground  till  dark,  at  any 
cost.  I  will  send  him  Miller's  hattery.  I  can 
do  nothing  more.  /  fxirc  no  infantry.1  Then,  as 
the  messenger  was  riding  away,  he  called  him 
hack.  '  Tell  him  if  he  r/ni  not  hold  his  ground,  then 
the  bridge  to  the  last  man  !  always  the  bridge  !  If 
the  bridge  is  lost,  all  is  lost/  ' 

Such  was  their  critical  condition  in  the  estima- 
tion of  the  Federal  commander. 

But  the  contest  was  ended.  The  worn  and  ex- 
hausted veterans  of  Lee  could  not  pursue  their  ad- 
vantage. The  bridge  on  which  McClellan  had 
staked  all  was  still  his  when  darkness  came  down 
upon  the  combatants. 

This  was  no  Federal  victory,  as  was  afterwards 
claimed,  but  a  drawn  battle,  which,  considering  the 
disparity  of  numbers,  might  rather  be  deemed  a 
triumph  for  the  smaller  army. 

All  the  following  day  Lee  remained  in  line  of 
battle;  but  no  attack  was  made.  At  night  he  with- 
drew his  army,  deliberately  and  without  molesta- 
tion, across  the  Potomac. 

Clearly  McOlellan  was  not  able  to  cross  swords  a 

second  time  with  the  opponent  he  claimed  to  have 

defeated,     lie  says :  "  The  next  morning  I  found 

that  our  loss  had  been  so  great,  and  there  was  so 

13  K 


146  A    POPULAR    LIFE   OF  [1862. 

much  disorganization  in  some  of  the  commands, 
that  I  did  not  consider  it  proper  to  renew  the  attack 
that  day."  And  the  best  Northern  historian  of 
the  war  says :  a  The  action  at  Antictam,  though  a 
victory  in  its  results,  seeing  that  it  so  crippled  Lee's 
force  as  to  put  an  end  to  the  invasion,  was  tactically 
a  drawn  battle  —  a  battle  in  which  McClellan  had 
suffered  as  much  as  he  had  inflicted." 

The  expedition  into  Maryland  was  over. 

That  more  was  not  accomplished  has  been  as- 
cribed in  part  to  the  diminished  numbers  of  Gen- 
eral Lee  from  "  stragglers."  We  quote  from  Col- 
onel Cooke  the  best  explanation  and  apology  that 
could  be  made  for  this  lamentable  fact.  "When 
they  crossed,  "  only  about  one-half"  of  the  Army 
of  Northern  Virginia  "  was  at  his  (Lee's)  orders. 
Nearly  half  of  Lee's  army  was  still  limping  along, 
barefooted  and  exhausted,  far  in  rear,  on  the  Vir- 
ginia side.  Not  once,  but  a  hundred  times  has  the 
statement  been  made,  that  these  men  were  strag- 
glers, intending  desertion.  That  statement  is  an 
injustice  to  the  brave,  soldiers  of  the  army.  The 
immense  marches  and  desperate  combats  of  the  last 
month  had  exhausted  them.  Barefooted,  in  rags, 
unfed,  worn  out,  they  dragged  their  feet  along, 
trying  to  keep  up,  and  they  would  have  arrived, 
but  for  one  circumstance.  McClellan's  rapid  ad- 
vance uncovered  the  fords  near  Lcesburg;  crossing 
these,  the  'stragglers'  would  have  found  McClellan, 


1862.]  GENERAL    ROBERT   E.LEE.  147 

not  Loo.  In  fact,  General  Loo  issued  an  order  for- 
bidding it,  and  thus  these  twenty  thousand  or  more 
unfortunate,  not  criminal  men,  who  filled  the  fields 
of  Loudoun,  or  crouched  on  the  heights  near  Lees- 
burg,  were  pointed  at  and  stigmatized  as  strag- 
glers." 

Many  on  this  toilsome  march  were  made  lame  for 
months,  others  for  life. 

On  his  return  to  Virginia,  General  Lee  wrote  the 
following  letter  to  one  of  his  daughters  : 

"HEADQUARTERS  NEAR  MARTINSBURG, 
".September  2«d,  1802. 

"My  BEAU  DAUGHTER:  —  I  have  received  your 
two  last  affectionate  letters,  which  have  given  me 
great  pleasure  and  comfort 

"I  am  unable  to  write  to  you,  and  have  to  em- 
ploy the  pen  of  a  friend.  The  doctors  say  it  will 
be  three  or  four  weeks  yet  before  I  will  be  able  to 
use  my  own 

"  I  presume  the  papers  give  you  full  accounts  of 
the  movements  and  doings  of  the  army.  You  know 
I  have  but  little  news  ever  to  tell,  and  can't  keep 
pace  with  our  letter-writers. 

"  AVe  had  two  hard-fought  battles  in  Maryland, 
and  did  not  consider  ourselves  beaten,  as  our  ene- 
mies supposed.  We  wore  greatly  outnumbered, 
and  opposed  by  double  (if  not  treble)*  our  strength ; 
yet  we  repulsed  all  their  attacks,  held  our  ground, 

*This,  with  his  accustomed  desire  never  to  run  the  slightest  risk 
of  exaggeration,  was  marked  out  evidently  with  his  own  lamed 
hand. 


148  A    POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1862. 

and  retired  when  it  suited  our  convenience.  Their 
loss  is  said  to  be  very  heavy,  and  their  papers  re- 
port thirteen  of  their  generals  killed  and  wounded 
at  Sharpsburg.  Among  the  former  is  my  old  en- 
gineer-comrade, General  Mansfield.  With  much 
love  and  great  affection,  your  father, 

"R.  E.  LEE." 

General  Lee  sums  up  the  successes  of  this  entire 
campaign  in  his  address  to  the  troops  upon  their 
return  from  Maryland : 

"  HEADQUARTERS  ARMY  OF  NORTHERN  VIRGINIA, 
"  October  2,  1862. 

"  In  reviewing  the  achievements  of  the  army  dur- 
ing the  present  campaign,  the  Commanding  General 
cannot  withhold  the  expression  of  his  admiration 
of  the  indomitable  courage  it  has  displayed  in 
battle,  and  its  cheerful  endurance  of  privation  and 
hardships  on  the  march. 

"  Since  your  great  victories  around  Richmond, 
you  have  defeated  the  enemy  at  Cedar  Mountain, 
expelled  him  from  the  Rappahannock,  and  after  a 
conflict  of  three  days,  utterly  repulsed  him  on  the 
plains  of  Manassas,  and  forced  him  to  take  shelter 
within  the  fortifications  around  his  capital. 

"  Without  halting  for  repose,  you  crossed  the 
Potomac,  stormed  the  heights  of  Harper's  Ferry, 
made  prisoners  of  more  than  eleven  thousand  men, 
and  captured  upwards  of  seventy  pieces  of  artillery, 
all  their  small  arms,  and  other  munitions  of  war. 

"  While  one  corps  of  the  army  was  thus  engaged, 
the  other  insured  its  success  by  arresting  at  Boons- 


1862.]          GENERAL   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  149 

boro  the  combined  armies  of  the  enemy,  advancing 
under  their  favorite  General  to  the  relief  of  their 
beleaguered  comrades. 

"  On  the  field  of  Sharpsburg,  with  less  than  one- 
third  his  numbers,  you  resisted,  from  daylight  until 
dark,  the  whole  army  of  the  enemy,  and  repulsed 
every  attack  along  his  entire  front,  of  more  than 
four  miles  in  extent. 

"  The  whole  of  the  following  day  you  stood  pre- 
pared to  resume  the  conflict  on  the  same  ground, 
and  retired  next  morning  without  molestation 
across  the  Potomac. 

"  Two  attempts,  subsequently  made  by  the  enemy, 
to  follow  you  across  the  river,  have  resulted  in  his 
complete  discomfiture,  and  being  driven  back  with 
loss. 

"  Achievements  such  as  these  demanded  much 
valor  and  patriotism.  History  records  few  examples 
of  greater  fortitude  and  endurance  than  this  army 
has  exhibited;  and  I  am  commissioned  by  the  Pres- 
ident to  thank  you  in  the  name  of  the  Confederate 
States  for  the  undying  fume  you  have  won  for  their 
arms. 

"  Much  as  you  have  done,  much  more  remains  to 
be  accomplished.  The  enemy  again  threatens  .us 
with  invasion,  and  to  your  tried  valor  and  patriot- 
ism the  country  looks  with  confidence  for  deliver- 
ance and  safety.  Your  past  exploits  give  assurance 
that  this  confidence  is  not  misplaced.* 

"  lv.  E.  LKK,  General  Commanding." 

*  "  The  moral  cfl'cct  of  the  campaign  which  General  Lee  had  now 
concluded  is  too  large  and  brilliant  to  be  omitted  from  any  esti- 
13* 


150  A    POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1862. 

An  officer  of  General  Lee's  staff  gives  us  the 
following  interesting  incident  which  occurred  at 
this  time : 

"  General  Lee's  wonderful  forbearance  and  con- 
sideration for  others  was  surprisingly  evinced  the 
night  following  our  passage  over  the  Potomac,  after 
the  tight  at  iSharpsburg.  In  withdrawing  from  that 

mate  of  results.  To  the  world  it  was  a  chapter  of  wonders.  It 
had  accomplished  a  sum  of  victories  unequalled  in  the  same  space 
of  time  by  anything  in  the  previous  or  subsequent  experience  of 
the  war;  it  had  made  a  record  of  toils,  hardships,  and  glories 
famous  in  history  ;  it  had  accumulated  a  brilliant  spoil,  and  the 
wonderful  statement  is  derived  from  the  books  of  the  Provost- 
Marshal  in  Richmond,  that,  in  twelve  or  fifteen  weeks,  the  Con- 
federates had  taken  and  paroled  no  less  than  forty-odd  thousand 
prisoners  !  "  — Lee  and  his  Lieutenants,  POLLAUU. 

The  same  author  quotes  from  the  London  Times,  commenting  upon 
these  events.  "  The  people  of  the  Confederate  States  have  made 
themselves  famous.  If  the  renown  of  brilliant  courage,  stern  de- 
votion to  a  cause,  and  military  achievements  almost  without  a 
parallel,  can  compensate  men  for  the  toil  and  privations  of  the 
hour,  then  the  countrymen  of  Lee  and  Jackson  may  be  consoled 
amid  their  sufferings.  From  all  parts  of  Europe,  from  their 
enemies  as  well  as  their  friends,  from  those  who  condemn  their 
acts  as  well  as  those  who  sympathize  with  them,  comes  the  tribute 
of  admiration.  When  the  history  of  this  war  is  written,  the  ad- 
miration will  doubtless  become  deeper  and  stronger,  for  the  veil 
which  has  covered  the  South  will  be  drawn  away,  and  disclose  a 
picture  of  patriotism,  of  unanimous  self-sacrifice,  of  wise  and  firm 
administration,  which  we  can  now  only  see  indistinctly.  The 
details  of  extraordinary  national  effort  which  has  led  to  the  re- 
pulse and  almost,  to  the  destruction  of  an  invading  force  of  more 
than  half  a  million  of  men,  will  then  become  known  to  the  world  ; 
and  whatever  may  be  the  fate  of  the  new  nationality,  or  its  sub- 
sequent claims  to  the  respect  of  mankind,  it  will  assuredly  begin 
its  career  with  a  reputation  for  genius  and  valor  which  the  most 
famous  nations  may  envy." 


1862.]  GENERAL    ROBERT    E.LEE.  151 

field  it  had  been  a  matter  of  special  gratulation 
that  not  the  smallest  trophy  had  been  left  to  the 
enemy. 

"  To  prevent  his  passage  over  the  river,  the 
Southern  heights  were  crowned  with  a  number  of 
guns,  from  twenty-five  to  thirty,  supported  by  in- 
fantry. Separated  from  our  wagons,  we  had  spread 
our  blankets  under  an  apple-tree,  and  retired,  sup- 
perless,  and  fatigued  with  the  long  day's  march  to- 
wards Winchester. 

"  About  one  o'clock  in  the  night,  the  officer  com- 
manding that  passage  rode  up,  asked  for  the  Gen- 
eral, dismounted  and  entered  into  conversation. 
The  first  announcement  was,  that  the  enemy  had 
taken  the  heights,  and  captured  ALL  of  the  guns. 
'  All,'  said  the  General.  '  Yes,  General,  I  fear,  all.' 
This  announcement  lifted  me  right  off  my  blanket, 
and  I  moved  away,  fearful  I  might  betray  my  feel- 
ings. The  General  exhibited  no  temper,  made  no 
reproach  that  I  could  hear,  either  then,  or  even 
afterwards,  when  he  learned  that  the  gallantry  of  a 
subordinate  officer  had  saved  the  command,  and 
that  the  commanding  officer  had  been  premature 
in  his  report. 

"  This  would  have  been  an  extraordinary  instance 
of  forbearance,  even  had  this  calamity  been  an- 
nounced whilst  he  was  enjoying  comparative  ease; 
but  under  the  physical  discomfort  of  his  immediate 
surroundings,  irritating  in  themselves  to  a  nervous 
temperament,  such  as  mine,  it  struck  me  as  truly 
grand." 

It  was  at  Sharpsburg  that  a  spectator  describes 


152  A    POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1862. 

General  Lee  as  riding  up  to  the  Rockbridge  Artil- 
lery, which  was  fiercely  engaging  the  enemy,  and 
greeting  his  youngest  son,  Robert,  who,  begrimed 
with  smoke  and  dust,  was  bravely  working  one  of 
the  guns.  "How  are  you,  father?"  was  all  that 
Robert  had  time  to  say,  and  the  father  replied 
quietly,  "  That 's  right,  my  son ;  drive  those  people 
back." 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

Encampment  around  Winchester  —  Stuart's  Raid  into  Pennsyl- 
vania—  The  Federal  Army  in  Motion — Removal  of  McClellim 
—  Burnside  in  Command  —  Camp  at  Fredericksburg  —  Letter 
from  General  Lee  to  his  Daughter  —  The  Bombardment  of 
Fredericksburg — The  Battle  —  General  Lee's  Despatch. 

GREAT  was  the  disappointment  at  the  North 
when  the  news  of  General  Lee's  safe  return  to 
Virginia  reached  there.  McCabe,  in  his  Life  of  Lee, 
quotes  a  passage  from  the  Tribune,  which  explains 
the  general  dissatisfaction,  and  testifies  to  the  suc- 
cess of  his  prompt  and  energetic  movements. 

"  He  leaves  us  the  debris  of  his  late  camps,  two 
disabled  pieces  of  artillery,  a  tew  hundred  of  his 
stragglers,  perhaps  two  thousand  of  his  wounded, 
and  as  many  more  of  his  unbnried  dead.  Not.  a 
sound  fieldpiecc,  caisson,  ambulance,  or  wagon  ; 
not  a  tent,  box  of  stores,  or  a  pound  of  ainmn- 


1862.]  GENERAL   ROBERT    E.  LEE.  153 

nition.     lie  takes  with  him  the  supplies  gathered  in 
Mary  land,  and  the  rich  spoils  of  Harper's  Ferry." 

The  army  was  now  to  enjoy  a  month  or  two  of 
rest,  which  they  sorely  needed.  Encamped  around 
Winchester,  "where  it  was  rejoined  hy  the  unfortu- 
nates left  behind  on  the  march  into  Maryland,  who 
were  now  fresh  and  vigorous  again,  it  fully  benefited 
by  the  unwonted  and  welcome  relaxation. 

The  Government  in  the  meanwhile  took  mea- 
sures to  provide  for  its  necessities,  in  fresh  supplies 
of  shoes  and  clothing. 

A  letter  quoted  in  the  biography  just  mentioned 
gives  a  pleasant  picture  of  tlieir  life  in  camp  at  this 
period.  It  is  written  by  one  of  Jackson's  corps  : 

"  The  only  '  useful  occupation  '  of  this  brigade 
for  some  time  past  lias  been  to  destroy  all  the  rail- 
roads in  reach ;  apparently,  too,  for  no  better  reason 
than  the  fellow  had  for  killing  the  splendid  ana- 
conda in  the  Museum,  because  it  was  his  '  rule  to 
kill  snakes  wherever  found.'  It  is  when  idle  in 
camp  that  the  soldier  is  a  great  institution,  yet  one 
that  must  be  seen  to  be  appreciated.  Pen  cannot 
fully  paint  the  air  of  cheerful  content,  irresponsible 
loungings,  and  practical  spirit  of  jesting  that  '  ob- 
tains,' ready  to  seize  on  any  odd  circumstance  in 
its  licensed  levity.  A  '  cavalryman  '  comes  rejoic- 
ing in  immense  top  boots,  for  which  in  fond  pride 
he  has  invested  full  forty  dollars  of  pay;  at  once 
the  cry  from  a  hundred  voices  follows  him  along 


154  A   POPULAR   LIFE  OP  [1862. 

the  line :  '  Come  up  out  o'  them  boots  !  come  out ! 
Too  soon  to  go  into  winter-quarters !  I  know 
you  're  in  thar  !  —  sec  your  arms  sticking  out !  '  A 
bumpkin  rides  by  in  an  uncommonly  big  hat,  and 
is  frightened  by  the  shout :  '  Come  down  out  o' 
that  hat!  come  down!  'Tain't  no  use  to  say  you 
ain't  up  there  ;  I  see  your  legs  hanging  out ! '  A 
fancy  staif  officer  was  horrified  at  the  irreverent 
reception  of  his  nicely  twisted  moustache,  as  he 
heard  from  behind  innumerable  trees  :  *  Take  them 
mice  out  o'  your  mouth !  take  'em  out !  No  use 
to  say  they  ain't  thar !  —  see  their  tails  hanging 
out ! '  Another,  sporting  immense  whiskers,  was 
urged  to  '  come  out  of  that  bunch  of  har !  I  know 
you  're  in  thar !  I  see  your  ears  a  working ! ' 
Sometimes  a  rousing  cheer  is  heard  in  the  distance 
—  it  is  explained  :  '  Boys,  look  out !  Here  comes 
"  Old  Stonewall,"  or  an  old  har,  one  or  t'other  ; ' — 
they  being  the  only  individuals  who  invariably 
bring  down  the  house. 

"  But  the  whole  day  of  camp-life  is  not  yet  de- 
scribed :  the  night  remains,  and  latterly  it  is  no 
unusual  scene,  as  the  gloaming  gathers,  to  see  a 
group  quietly  collect  beneath  the  dusky  shadows 
of  the  forest-trees,  —  'God's  first  temples,' —  whence 
soon  arise  the  notes  of  some  familiar  hymn,  awak- 
ing memories  of  childhood  and  of  home.  The 
youthful  chaplain,  in  earnest  tones,  tells  his  holy 
mission;  another  hymn  is  heard,  and  by  the  waning 
light  of  the  pine  torches  the  weird-like  figures  of 
the  grouped  soldiers  are  seen  reverently  moving  to 
the  night's  repose." 


1862.]  G  E  N  E  U  A  L    II  ()  B  E  R  T    E  .LEE.  155 

They  had  before  them  exemplars  in  piety,  as  in 
all  manly  virtues,  in  their  two  great  leaders,  Jack- 
son and  Lee. 

Only  one  event  of  importance  occurred  at  this 
time.  General  Lee,  in  order  to  learn  something 

O 

of  the  enemy's  movements  and  strength,  or- 
dered General  Stuart  on  a  reconnoissance  into 
Maryland  and  Pennsylvania.  This  was  accom- 
plished early  in  October,  with  that  officer's  accus- 
tomed brilliant  daring  and  promptitude.  MeClel- 
lan,  becoming  aware  of  his  bold  attempt,  ordered 
all  the  fords  of  the  Potomac  to  be  covered,  and  had 
troops  to  intercept  him  at  every  point,  so  that  it 
seemed  impossible  for  him  to  escape.  He  returned, 
however,  in  safety,  after  making  the  circuit  from 
Williamsport  —  where  he  crossed  over  —  around 
through  Chambersburg  and  Gettysburg,  to  the 
ford  near  Poolesville,  where  he  recrossed,  having 
here  a  slight  skirmish  with  the  advance  of  Stone- 
man's  cavalry,  the  main  body  arriving  juat  too  late 
to  prevent  his  escape.  He  had  "  marched  over 
eighty  miles  in  twenty-four  hours." 

In  this  expedition  Stuart  gained  much  valuable 
information,  captured  and  brought  off  a  number 
of  horses,  and  only  suffered  the  loss  of  two  or 
three  men  missing,  who  lost  their  way,  and  the 
same  number  wounded. 

McClellan,  who  had  been  lingering  at  Harper's 
Ferry  recruiting  his  army,  now  received  peremptory 


156  A    POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1862. 

orders  to  "  advance."  In  the  latter  part  of  October 
he  moved  across  the  Potomac.  His  plan  was  to 
march  to  Warrenton,  and,  if  possible,  separate 
Lee's  army,  overcoming  each  portion  in  turn ;  or, 
failing  in  this,  to  force  him  to  concentrate  as  far 
back  as  Gordonsville.  General  Lee,  while  uncer- 
tain as  to  his  antagonist's  movements,  thought  it 
advisable  to  remain  in  the  valley  while  sending 
Jackson  to  check  his  advance. 

McClellan  had  hardly  reached  Warrenton  before 
he  was  suddenly,  and  without  warning,  recalled 
from  his  command,  and  Burnside  put  in  his  place. 
This  conduct  on  the  part  of  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment was  most  fortunate  for  the  Confederates.  It 
removed  from  the  leadership  of  the  opposing  forces 
their  ablest  general,  and,  by  the  delay  occasioned, 
gave  General  Lee  ample  time  to  collect  his  forces 
and  mature  his  plans.  General  Burnside  proceeded 
to  alter  the  organization  of  his  army,  and  then  de- 
cided upon  a  different  plan  of  campaign. 

lie  did  not  wish  to  hazard  a  general  engagement, 
and  determined  upon  marching  to  Fredericksburg, 
taking  possession  of  the  town  and  making  it  his 
winter-quarters,  from  whence  it  would  be  easy  to 
begin  offensive  operations  in  the  spring. 

General  Lee,  made  aware  of  the  enemy's  move- 
ments by  the  vigihince  of  Stuart's  cavalry,  sent 
forward  a  portion  of  Longst rent's  corps,  and  occu- 
pied the  heights  of  Fredericksburg  before  Burn- 
side's  had  moved  up. 


1862.]  GENERAL   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  157 

General  Lee  followed  with  the  rest  of  the  army. 
On  the  24th  of  November  he  writes : 

"  CAMP  NEAR  FREDEUICKSBURG,  Nov.  24,  18G2. 
"My  DEAR  DAUGHTER:  —  I  have  just  received 
your  letter  of  the  17th,  which  has  afforded  me  great 
gratification.  I  regretted  not  finding  you  in  Rich- 
mond, and  grieve  over  every  opportunity  of  seeing 
you  that  is  lost,  for  I  fear  they  will  become  less  and 
less  frequent.*  I  am  glad  however  that  you  have 
been  able  to  enjoy  the  society  of  those  who  are  so 
well  qualified  to  render  you  happy,  and  who  are  so 
deservedly  loved  and  admired.  The  death  of  my 

dear  A was  indeed  to  me  a  bitter  pang.     But 

the  Lord  gave,  and  the  'Lord  has  taken  away; 
blessed  be  the  name  of  the  Lord.  In  the  quiet 
hours  of  night,  when  there  is  nothing  to  lighten 
the  full  weight  of  my  grief,  I  feel  as  if  I  should  be 
overwhelmed.  1  had  always  counted,  if  God  should 
spare  me  a  few  days  of  peace  after  this  cruel  war 
was  ended,  that  I  should  have  her  with  me.  But 
year  after  year  my  hopes  go  out,  and  I  must  be  re- 
signed. I  write  with  difficulty,  and  must  be  brief. 
F.  and  R.  are  near  me  and  well.  Nephew  F.  has 
laid  aside  his  crutches,  and  I  hope  will  soon  join 
me.  Your  mother,  I  presume,  informs  you  of  the 
best.  General  Burnside's  whole  army  is  apparently 
opposite  Fredericksburg,  and  stretches  from  the 

*Tltis  daughter  was  then  within  the  enemy's  linos,  having,  by 
the  sudden  movements  of  troops,  while  visiting  relatives  in  a  re- 
mote country  place,  been  accidentally  cut  off'  from  her  friends 
and  family,  and  was  for  many  months  debarred  from  all  but  a 
very  precarious  intercourse  with  them. 
14 


158  A   POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1862. 

Rappahannock  to  the  Potomac.  What  his  inten- 
tions are  lie  has  not  yet  disclosed.  I  am  sorry  he  is 
in  position  to  oppose  our  friends  and  citizens  of  the 
'  Northern  Neck.'  lie  threatens  to  bomhard  Fred- 
ericksburg,  and  the  noble  spirit  displayed  by  its 
citizens,  particularly  the  women  and  children,  has 
elicited  my  highest  admiration.  They  have  been 
abandoning  their  homes  night  and  day  during  all 
this  inclement  weather,  cheerfully  and  uncomplain- 
ingly, with  only  such  assistance  as  our  wagons  and 
ambulances  could  afford.  Women,  girls,  and  chil- 
dren, trudging  through  the  mud,  and  bivouacking  in 

the  open  fields 

"  Believe  me  always,  your  father, 

"R.  E.  LEE." 

The  battle  of  Fredericksburg  —  one  of  the  blood- 
iest of  the  war —  soon  followed.  The  Confederates 
had  the  advantage  of  position,  and  their  numbers 
were  twice  as  great  as  at  Sharpsburg;  still  the 
enemy  outnumbered  them  two  to  one.  General 
Burnside's  force,  in  round  numbers,  is  estimated  at 
a  hundred  thousand;*  General  Lee's,  at  fifty 
thousand. 

It  was  first  necessary  to  move  the  Federal  host 
across  the  Rappahannock.  To  obstruct  this  at- 
tempt, General  Lee  had  stationed  Barksdale's  bri- 
gade along  the  Fredericksburg  shore;  and  so  effec- 
tive was  their  fire,  that  the  pontooneers,  after  making 
many  efforts  to  complete  their  work,  were  repulsed 

*  Northern  authority. 


1862.]          GENERAL   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  159 

and  forced  to  fall  back.  Then,  in  desperation,  the 
Federal  commander  gave  orders  to  bombard  the 
city.  The  murderous  fire  passed  over  the  heads 
of  the  soldiers,  who  were  too  near  the  shore  for  it 
to  harm  them,  tore  up  the  streets,  churches,  and 
dwelling-houses,  driving  the  defenceless  inhabitants 
to  seek  refuge  in  cellars  or  flee  to  the  open  country. 
An  eye-witness  says:  "  Men,  women,  and  children 
were  driven  from  the  town,  and  hundreds  of  ladies 
and  children  were  seen  wandering,  homeless  and 
without  shelter,  over  the  frozen  highway,  in  thin 
clothing,  not  knowing  wrhere  to  fiiul  a  place  of 
refuge." 

Finding  that  the  bombardment  did  not  accom- 
plish their  object,  a  detachment  of  troops  was  sent 
over  in  the  face  of  the  Confederate  fire.  They  suc- 
ceeded in  driving  the  Confederates  from  their  shel- 
ter. The  work  now  proceeded ;  the  pontoons  were 
laid,  and  by  the  evening  of  the  12th  the  whole 
army  was  on  the  other  side  ready  to  give  battle. 
General  Lee  occupied  the  heights  back  of  the  town, 
a  rough  and  open  plain  separating  the  opposing 
forces.  On  the  right  of  the  Confederate  line  lay 
Jackson's  corps;  to  the  left,  on  Marye's  Hill  — 
which  was  to  become  so  famous  from  this  day  — 
were  the  forces  under  Longstreet ;  in  the  fields  on 
the  extreme  right,  Stuart  was  stationed  with  his 
horse-artillery,  the  nature  of  the  ground  not  allow- 
ing the  use  of  cavalry.  The  attack  opened  upon  the 


160  A   POPULAR  LIFE  OP  [1862. 

Confederate  right.  Meade's  division  was  brought 
up  to  assail  this  strong  position,  and  driven  back 
with  terrible  slaughter.  As  they  advanced,  Pelham, 
the  boy-artillerist,  whose  genius  and  gallantry  were 
to  win  for  him  a  name  on  the  roll  of  Southern 
heroes,  kept  them  iu  check  for  two  hours,  until 
his  last  round  was  tired.  Battery  after  battery  was 
brought  up  to  silence  him ;  but  he  stood  firmly  to 
his  post,  while  the  maimed  and  dying  fell  around, 
until  positive  orders  were  sent  to  him  to  retire. 
General  Lee,  who  witnessed  this  gallant  conduct, 
exclaimed  with  enthusiasm,  kt  It  is  glorious  to  see 
such  eourasre  in  owe  so  voting !"  * 

d*  *  *i-J 

It  was  of  this  repulse  of  Meade  by  Jackson,  in 
which  the  former  is  said  to  have  **•  lost  forty  out  of 
every  hundred  men,"  that  General  Lee  is  reported 
to  have  said,  as  he  watched  the  flying  foe,  "  It  is 
well  this  is  so  terrible  ;  we  would  grow  too  fond 
of  it!" 

Of  his  own  deportment  on  the  field  of  battle,  an 
English  correspondent  writes,  in  reference  to  this 
day :  "  It  would  be  presumptuous  in  me  to  say  one 
word  in  commendation  of  the  serenity,  or,  if  I  may 
so  express  it,  the  unconscious  dignity  of  General 
LeeTs  courage  when  he  is  under  fire.  No  one  who 
sees  and  knows  his  demeanor  in  ordinary  life 
would  expect  anything  else  from  one  so  calm,  so 
undemonstrative  and  unassuming.  But  the  de- 


1862.]  GENERAL  ROBERT   E.  LEE.  161 

seription  applied,  after  the  battle  of  the  Alma,  to 
Lord  Raglan,  by  Marshal  St.  Aniaud,  and  in  which, 
noticing  Lord  Raglan's  unconsciousness  under  fire, 
he  speaks  of  his  *  antique  heroism,"  seems  to  me  so 
applicable  to  General  Lee  that  I  cannot  forbear 
recalling  it  here."  * 

To  return  to  Fredericksburg.  After  the  assault 
upon  Jackson  had  failed,  the  whole  energy  of  the 
Federal  commander  was  directed  to  the  attack  upon 
Longstreet.  By  €Krisi<m»9  six  times  in  succession, 
the  forces  of  Burnside  were  hurled  upon  the  bris- 
tling front  of  Marye's  Hill,  and  six  times  they  fell 
back,  shattered  and  bleeding.  Never  had  the  Fed- 
eral forces  fought  so  gallantly,  never  had  courage 
and  desperation  l»een  so  hopeless.  But  Burnside, 
in  the  madness  of  defeat,  had  vowed  that  this  crest 
must  be  carried  that  night. 

Pollard,  in  his  account  of  this  assault,  says:  "The 
simile  so  commonly  used  in  descriptions  of  battles, 
of  waves  breaking  upon  a  rock-bound  coast,  was 
never  more  just  in  its  conception  than  in  the  frantic 
battle  in  which  the  Federal  divisions  were  shat- 
tered upon  the  heights  assailed,  and  were  hurled 
back,  one  after  the  other,  on  the  crimson  tide  of 
death." 

The  crest  was  not  carried  when  night  came,  and 
the  battle  was  over. 

The  Confederate  loss  was  not  much  over  four 

*  McCabe's  life  of  Let. 
14*  L 


162  A    POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1862. 

thousand,  while  that  of  the  Federals  was  more  than 
twelve  thousand,  killed,  wounded,  and  missing. 
Less  than  half  of  the  Confederate  army  had  heen 
brought  into  action. 

General  Lee  sent  the  following  despatch  announc- 
ing the  victory : 

"December  13th. 

"To  GENERAL  COOPER,  A.  A.  General. 

"At  nine  o'clock  this  morning  the  enemy  at- 
tacked our  right  wing,  and,  as  the  fog  lifted,  the 
battle  ran  along  the  whole  line,  from  right  to  left, 
until  six  P.M.,  the  enemy  being  repulsed  at  all 
points.  Thanks  be  to  God !  As  usual,  we  have  to 
mourn  the  loss  of  many  of  our  brave  men.  I  ex- 
pect the  battle  to  be  renewed  at  daylight  to-morrow 
morning.  lx.  E.  LEE." 


1862.]  GENERAL   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  163 


CHAPTER  XV. 

The  Federal  Army  recrosses  the  Rappnlmnnock  —  General  Lee's 
A<Idress  to  his  Army  —  Winter  in  Camp  —  "The  Mud  March'1 
—  Burnside's  Resignation  —  Hooker  in  Command. 

TIIIE  next  day  General  Lee  anticipated  another 
battle ;  but  the  demoralization  *  of  the  Federal 
army  was  so  great  that  it  was  not  deemed  expedient 
to  risk  another  attack.  On  the  contrary,  it  was 
expected  that  the  Confederates  would  assume  the 
offensive.  This  was  in  accordance  with  General 
Jackson's  views;  but  General  Lee,  not  realizing 
that  the  defeat  of  the  enemy  had  been  so  complete, 
thought  it  more  prudent  to  await  him  in  their  pres- 
ent strong  position,  rather  than  expose  his  troops  to 
the  powerful  batteries  on  the  Stafford  Heights.  He 
says : 

"  The  attack  on  the  13th  had  been  so  easily  re- 
pulsed, and  by  so  small  a  part  of  our  arrny,  that  it 
was  not  supposed  the  enemy  would  limit  his  efforts 
to  one  attempt,  which,  in  view  of  the  magnitude  of 

*  "  That  the  morale  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  became  seriously 
impaired  after  the  disaster  of  Fredericksbnrg  was  only  too  mani- 
fest. Indeed  it  would  be  impossible  to  imagine  a  graver,  or 
gloomier,  a  more  sombre  or  unmusical  body  of  men  than  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac  a  month  after  the  battle;  and  as  the  days  went 
by,  despondency,  discontent,  and  all  evil  inspirations,  with  their 
natural  consequent  desertion,  seemed  to  increase  rather  than  to 
diminish,  until,  for  the  first  time,  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  could 
be  said  to  be  really  demoralized."  —  Sn-inton. 


164  A    POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1862. 

his  preparations  and  the  extent  of  his  force,  seemed 
to  he  comparatively  insignificant.  Believing,  there- 
fore, that  he  would  attack  us,  it  was  not  deemed 
expedient  to  lose  the  advantages  of  our  position 
and  expose  the  troops  to  the  fire  of  his  inaccessihle 
hatteries  beyond  the  river,  by  advancing  against 
him.  But  we  were  necessarily  ignorant  of  the 
extent  to  which  he  had  suffered,  and  only  became 
aware  of  it  when,  on  the  evening  of  the  16th,  it 
was  discovered  that  he  had  availed  himself  of  the 
darkness  of  the  night,  and  the  prevalence  of  a  vio- 
lent storm  of  wind  and  rain,  to  recross  the  river." 

Had  he  pushed  forward,  however,  there  is  every 
reason  to  suppose  that  he  might  have  completed 
the  destruction  of  the  invading  army.  This  could 
not  be  known  then ;  and  his  course  was,  therefore, 
the  wisest  and  most  prudent  under  the  circum- 
stances. 

General  Burnside  desired  to  make  another  as- 
sault, which  he  planned  to  lead  in  person,  in  order 
to  retrieve  his  fame,  and  restore  the  waning  confi- 
dence of  his  troops.  A  final  attempt  to  carry  Ma- 
rye's  Hill  was  what  he  contemplated.  But  he  waa 
deterred,  by  the  advice  and  remonstrances  of  all  his 
general  officers,  from  a  venture  likely  to  prove  as 
fatal  and  useless  as  those  that  had  preceded  it. 

It  became  evident  that  all  hostile  demonstrations 
were  over  for  the  present,  and  the  army  now  pro- 
ceeded to  go  into  winter-quarters. 

General  Lee  issued  the  following  address  to  his 


1862.]  GENERAL,   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  165 

soldiers  at  this  time,  on  the  subject  of  their  late 
successes : 

"HEADQUARTERS  ARMY  OF  NORTHERN  VIRGINIA, 
December  31,  1862. 

"  The  General  commanding  takes  this  occasion 
to  express  to  the  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  army 
his  high  appreciation  of  the  fortitude,  valor,  and 
devotion  displayed  l>y  them,  which,  under  the 
blessing  of  Almighty  God,  have  added  the  victory 
of  Fredericksburg  to  their  long  list  of  triumphs. 

"An  arduous  march,  performed  with  celerity  un- 
der many  disadvantages,  exhibited  the  discipline 
and  spirit  of  the  troops,  and  their  eagerness  to  con- 
front the  foe. 

"  The  immense  army  of  the  enemy  completed  its 
preparations  for  the  attack  without  interruption, 
and  gave  battle  in  its  own  time  and  on  ground  of 
its  own  selection. 

"  It  was  encountered  by  less  than  twenty  thou- 
sand of  this  brave  army,  and  its  columns,  crushed 
and  broken,  hurled  back  at  every  point,  with  such 
fearful  slaughter  that  escape  from  entire  destruc- 
tion became  the  boast  of  those  who  had  advanced 
in  full  confidence  of  victory. 

"  That  this  great  result  was  achieved  with  a  loss 
small  in  point  of  numbers  only  augments  the  admi- 
ration with  which  the  Commanding  General  re- 
gards the  prowess  of  the  troops,  and  increases  his 
gratitude  to  Him  '  who  hath  given  us  the  victory.' 

"  The  war  is  not  yet  ended.  The  enemy  is  still 
numerous  and  strong,  and  the  country  demands  of 
the  army  a  renewal  of  its  heroic  efforts  in  her 


166  A    POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1862. 

behalf.  Nobly  has  it  responded  to  her  call  in  the 
past,  and  she  will  never  appeal  in  vain  to  its  cour- 
age and  patriotism. 

"  The  signal  manifestations  of  Divine  mercy  that 
have  distinguished  the  eventful  and  glorious  cam- 
paign of  the  year  just  closing,  give  assurance  of 
hope,  that,  under  the  guidance  of  the  same  Al- 
mighty hand,  the  coming  year  will  be  no  less  fruit- 
ful of  events  that  will  insure  the  safety,  peace,  and 
happiness  of  our  beloved  country,  and  add  new 
lustre  to  the  already  imperishable  name  of  the 
Army  of  Northern  Virginia. 

"  II.  E.  LEE,  General." 

The  army  remained  near  Fredericksburg  during 
the  winter,  which  was  intensely  cold.  The  suffer- 
ings of  the  soldiers  were  great.  General  Lee 
shared  the  privations  of  the  men,  and  refused  to 
make  his  headquarters  in  a  dwelling,  though  one 
was  near  at  hand,  until  after  a  severe  indisposition, 
when  the  positive  orders  of  his  physician  forced 
him  to  do  so.  lie  is  described,  by  an  English  gen- 
tleman who  visited  him  about  this  time,  as  sur- 
rounded with  none  of  the  pomp  and  ceremony  found 
in  European  camps,  although  always  treated  with 
profound  respect,  and  looked  upon  as  the  father  of 
his  soldiers  by  those  who  knew  him  best.  By  the 
men,  generally,  he  was  called  "  Uncle  Robert,"  or 
"  Mass  Rob,"  in  the  familiar  and  affectionate  lan- 
guage which  spoke  the  devotion  of  his  adoring 
troops. 


1863.]         GENERAL   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  167 

Many  of  the  soldiers  were  again  without  shoes. 
General  Lee  urged  upon  the  (covernment  the  ne- 
cessity of  providing  them,  even  if  they  were  forced 
to  seize  the  stock  in  the  hands  of  speculators.  He 
also  wrote  to  the  Department  on  the  importance  of 
increasing  the  army.  His  forces  had  been  much 
diminished  by  the  call  for  troops  to  defend  the 
menaced  points  on  the  coasts  of  North  Carolina  and 
Virginia,  and  at  Charleston,  which  was  at  that  time 
threatened. 

The  winter  passed  away  with  only  one  event  of 
interest  to  mark  the  vicinity  of  the  enemy.  This 
was  what  was  afterwards  known  in  the  annals  of 
the  Federal  campaign  as  the  "  Mud  march." 

On  the  10th  of  January,  the  attempt  was  made 
to  cross  the  Ilappahannoek  at  Banks's  ford,  above 
Fredericksburg,  in  order  to  make  a  final  effort  to 
drive  Lee  from  his  position,  and  force  him  to  fall 
back  upon  Richmond. 

In  the  expectation  that  the  weather,  which  had 
up  to  this  time  been  favorable  to  their  plans,  would 
continue  good,  Burnside  ordered  forward  Hooker's 
and  Franklin's  divisions.  On  the  night  of  the  20th, 
however,  a  storm  came  up,  which  left  the  roads  in 
such  condition  as  to  make  an  advance  impossible. 
Every  effort  to  bring  up  tlje  pontoons  failed;  *  the 

*"  Herculean  efforts  were  made  to  bring  pontoons  enough  into 
position  to  build  a  bridge  or  two  withal.  Double  and  triple  teams 
of  horses  and  mules  were  harnessed  to  each  boat ;  but  it  was  in 


168  A   POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1863. 

mud  was  an  adversary  not  counted  upon,  and  not 
easily  resisted.  Even  the  foot- soldiers  could  not 
march  through  the  quagmires  ;  it  was  found  an  im- 
possible task.  The  roads  would  be  impracticable 
until  spring,  so  the  attempt  was  abandoned. 

Baffled  and  chagrined  at  this  last  discomfiture, 
Burnside  ascribed  it  in  part  to  the  delay  occasioned 
by  the  inimical  disposition  of  Ids  Generals.  He  re- 
turned to  Washington,  and  sent  in  an  order  dismiss- 
ing some  eight  or  nine  of  the  most  prominent  among 

vain.  Long  stout  ropes  were  then  attached  to  the  teams,  and  a 
hundred  and  fifty  men  put  to  the  task  on  each.  The  effort  was 
but  little  more  successful.  Floundering  through  the  mire  for  a 
few  feet,  the  gang  of  Liliputians,  with  their  huge-ribbed  Gulliver, 
were  forced  to  give  over,  breathless.  Night  arrived,  but  the  pon- 
toons could  not  be  got  up,  and  the  enemy's  pickets  discovering 
what  was  going  on,  jocularly  shouted  out  their  intention  to  'come 
over  to-morrow  and  help  build  the  bridges.' 

"Morning  dawned  upon  another  day  of  rain  and  storm.  The 
ground  had  gone  from  bad  to  worse,  and  now  showed  such  a  spec- 
tacle as  might  be  presented  by  the  elemental  wrecks  of  another 
Deluge.  An  indescribable  chaos  of  pontoons,  vehicles,  and  artil- 
lery encumbered  all  the  roads  —  supply-wagons  upset  by  the  road- 
side, guns  stalled  in  the  mud,  ammunition-trains  mired  by  the 
way,  and  hundreds  of  horses  and  mules  buried  in  the  liquid  muck. 
The  army,  in  fact,  was  embargoed:  it  was  no  longer  a  question 
of  how  to  go  forward,  it  was  a  question  of  how  to  get  back.  The 
three  days'  rations  brought  on  the  persons  of  the  men  were  ex- 
hausted, and  the  supply-trains  could  not  be  moved  up.  To  aid 
the  return,  all  the  available  force  was  put  to  work  to  corduroy  the 
rotten  roads.  Next  morning  the  army  floundered  and  staggered 
back  to  the  old  camps,  and  so  ended  a  movement  that  will  always 
live  in  the  recollection  of  the  army  as  the  'Mud  march,'  and 
which  remains  a  striking  exemplification  of  the  enormous  difficul- 
ties incident  to  winter  campaigning  in  Virginia." — Swinton. 


1 863.]  GENERAL    U  O  B  E  HT    E  .  L  E  E  .  169 

them,  wliicli,  in  case  the  President  failed  to  approve, 
was  to  be  replaced  hy  his  own  resignation. 

Mr.  Lincoln  accepted  the  latter  alternative,  and 
in  place  of  Burnside,  resigned,  appointed  to  take 
command  of  the  troops  the  foremost  man  on  the 
list  of  those  he  had  designed  to  disgrace.  This  was 
"  fighting  Joe  Hooker,"  as  he  was  popularly  called 
hy  his  admiring  compatriots. 


CHAPTER   XVI. 

Hooker's  Campaign  —  Kelly's  Ford  —  Di-utli  of  Pelham  —  The 
Battle  of  Chancellorsville  —  Jackson's  Flank  Movement  in  -'The 
Wilderness  "  —  Jackson  Wounded. 

THE  winter  passed  away  in  comparative  quiet. 
General  Hooker  need  every  exertion  to  increase 
and  make  effective  the  army  under  his  control. 
The  cavalry  was  reorganized  and  made  more  effi- 
cient than  it  had  been  since  the  beginning  of  the 
war.  His  whole  force  was  not  less  than  150,000 
men.  He  boasted  that  it  was  "  the  finest  army  on 
the  planet,"  so  well  was  it  equipped  and  provided. 
General  Lee's  army,  on  the  contrary,  was  much 
weakened  in  numbers,  and  always  but  poorly  sup- 
plied. It  had  been  necessary  to  send  General  Long- 
street  in  February  to  watch  the  movements  of  the 
enemy  south  of  the  James  River,  on  the  opening 

15 


170  A    POPULAR    LIFE   OF  [1863. 

of  the  spring  campaign ;  therefore  General  Lee's 
whole  force  amounted  to  but  45,000  men. 

In  March  the  enemy  commenced  active  opera- 
tions by  detaching  a  body  of  cavalry  under  Averill 
to  ascertain  Lee's  strength,  and  cut  off,  if  possible, 
his  communications  with  Gordonsville.  To  meet 
this  reconnoissance,  General  Stuart  sent  forward 
General  Fitz-Lee's  Brigade,  and  an  engagement  took 
place  fat  Kelly's  Ford.  Averill  was  obliged  to  retire 
and  abandon  the  expedition.  Eight  hundred  men 
had  confronted  and  driven  back  three  thousand. 

Cooke,  in  his  Hammer  and  Rapier,  says  of  this 
affair :  "  An  eye-witness  compared  Fitz-Lee's  little 
band  to  a  small  bull-dog  jumping  at  the  throat  of  a 
big  mastiff — ever  shaken  off' by  his  powerful  adver- 
sary, but  ever  returning  to  the  struggle,  until  the 
larger  animal's  strength  was  worn  out." 

Here  fell  the  "  gallant  Pelham,"  while  leading  a 
charge,  which  event  will  make  memorable  in  South- 
ern annals  the  name  of  Kelly's  Ford. 

Nothing  further  was  attempted  until  April,  when 
T Looker  made  arrangements  for  a  general  advance. 
He  went  forward  full  of  confidence  in  himself  and 
in  his  troops,  whom  he  had  pronounced  vastly 
superior,  intellectually  and  physically,  to  the  Con- 
federates ! 

He  knew  that  General  Longstreet  had  been  sent 
off,  and  was  desirous  to  strike  his  decisive  blow 
while  the  Southern  forces  were  thus  divided.  And 


1863.]         GENERAL    ROBERT    E     LEE.  171 

his  programme  seemed  to  promise  the  success  he 
coveted.  His  plan  was  to  cross  the  greater  part  of 
his  troops  over  the  Rappahannoek  at  Kelly's  Ford, 
occupy  Chancellorsville,  and  advance  upon  Lee 
from  this  point.  A  portion  of  his  command,  in 
the  meanwhile  —  "equal  in  numbers  to  General 
Lee's  whole  army "  —  was  to  take  possession  of 
Fredericksburg,  and,  while  Hooker  engaged  Lee 
before  Chaiicellorsville,  storm  Marye's  Heights, 
and,  co-operating  with  Hooker,  close  in  upon  Lee 
from  the  opposite  direction.  The  cavalry  —  ten 
thousand  in  number — under  Stoneman,  were  to 
scour  the  country  about  Gordonsville,  cut  off  the 
railroads,  and  thus  prevent  Longstrcet  from  coming 
to  Lee's  assistance. 

The  condition  of  General  Lee  seemed  indeed 
perilous;  but  the  great  leader  was  equal  to  the 
emergency.*  General  Jackson  was  first  ordered 
forward  to  skirmish  with  the  enemy  and  force  him 
to  make  a  stand  as  near  to  Chancellorsville  as  pos- 
sible. General  Lee  had  decided  to  accept  the  battle 
just  here,  as  the  only  means  of  escaping  the  "  cor- 
don "  which  surrounded  him. 

Chancellorsville  consists  of  but  a  single  dwelling- 
house  and  a  few  small  buildings  beyond  it.  Be- 
tween Fredericksburg  and  Chancellorsville,  a  few 

*  "  Leo,  with  instant  perception  of  tlic  situation,  now  seized  the 
masses  of  his  force,  and  with  the  grasp  of  a  Titan,  swung  them  into 
position  as  a  gianl  might  fling  a  stone  from  a  fling."  —  Swinton. 


172  A    POPULAR    LIFE   OF  [1863. 

miles  from  the  latter  place,  the  ground  is  open  and 
high,  and  well  adapted  for  the  movements  of  an 
armed  force.  In  every  other  direction  from  Chan- 
cellorsville,  the  "Wilderness" — a  region  of  marshy 
ground,  full  of  undergrowth  and  forests  of  stunted 
pines  —  stretched  for  miles  away,  a  lonely  and  des- 
olate country,  unsuited,  apparently,  for  the  pur- 
poses of  a  battle-ground.  General  Lee  recognized 
the  importance  of  obtaining  possession  of  the  ele- 
vated ground  instead  of  leaving  it  for  General 
Hooker,  and  for  this  purpose  sent  General  Jackson 
forward  to  dispute  his  advance.  Contrary  to  the 
remonstrances  of  his  officers,  Hooker,  upon  the 
approach  of  the  Confederates,  fell  back,  massing 
his  troops  nt  Chancellorsville,  where  he  awaited 
Lee's  attack.  His  right  stretched  out  towards 
Orange  County,  his  left  was  protected  by  the  river. 
General  Lee,  fully  aware  of  the  risk  attending  a 
direct  assault  upon  the  front  of  the  enemy's  strongly 
intrenched  position,  with  his  own  inferior  forces, 
resolved  upon  a  movement  which  a  great  Northern 
critic  calls  "  astonishingly  hold."  This  was  to  send 
General  Jackson  to  make  an  attack  upon  Hooker's 
right  from  the  rear,  while  he  made  a  feint  in  front. 

"The  plan,  though  lull  of  risk,  was  immediately 
adopted  by  Lee,  and  as  a  matter  of  course,  its  exe- 
cution committed  to  his  daring  Lieutenant,  who  was 
destined  in  the  climax  of  his  power  to  end  his 


1863.]  GENERAL   ROBERT    E.  LEE.  173 

career  in  the  world  and  the  world's  wars  in  this 
supreme  exhibition  of  military  genius."  * 

On  the  2d  of  May,  General  Jackson  commenced 
his  silent  march,  while  General  Lee  made  demon- 
strations upon  the  enemy's  left,  disposing  his  troops 
so  adroitly  as  to  succeed  in  his  purpose  of  deceiving 
General  Hooker  as  to  a  general  attack. 

Jackson,  practising  his  favorite  maxim,  "  Mystery 
is  the  secret  of  success,"  had  used  every  precaution 
to  keep  the  knowledge  of  his  approach  from  the 
unsuspecting  foe.  Hooker's  heing  without  cavalry, 
as  has  been  remarked  by  an  historian  of  the  war, 
made  the  surprise  less  difficult  of  accomplishment. 
Passing  over  a  hill,  the  column  was  seen  by  Gen- 
eral Sickles,  who  had  been  sent  forward  to  recon- 
noitre, and  coming  upon  a  Georgia  regiment  after 
the  rest  of  the  column  had  passed,  he  took  them  all 
prisoners.  Jackson  was  known  to  have  moved 
southward,  and  a  bend  in  the  road  gave  his  march 
the  appearance  of  a  retreat  towards  Richmond. 
Hooker,  overjoyed,  wrote  exultingly,  "  We  know 
the  enemy  is  flying,  trying  to  save  his  trains."  So 
little  did  he  imagine  the  true  state  of  the  case. 

At  five  o'clock  that  evening,  Jackson  was  storm- 
ing the  camp  of  the  astonished  Federals,  who  had 
been  cooking  their  suppers  away  from  their  arms, 
and  totally  unprepared  for  the  attack. 

The  corps  of  General   Howard  was  completely 

*  Swinton. 


174  A  I'oi'Ui.Ai:  1,1  KE  OF  [1863. 

routed  ;  they  were  driven  back,  Hying,  beaten,  and 
demoralized,  to  the  Uappahannock. 

General  Jackson  rode  into  the  tight  at  the  head 
of  his  troops.  "  He  leaned  forward  on  his  horse, 
extending  his  arm  far  in  front,  as  though  he  wished 
'  to  push  the  men  forward,'  and  his  voice  was  heard 
exclaiming,  '  Press  forward  !  press  forward  !  '  every 
few  minutes,  during  the  entire  attack.  When  not 
thus  mastered  by  the  ardor  of  battle,  his  right  hand 
was  raised  aloft  with  that  gesture  now  familiar  to 
his  men,  as  though  he  were  praying  to  the  God  of 
battles  for  victory."  *  It  was  his  last  great  charge, 
this  stormy  contest  in  the  Wilderness  —  the  crown- 
ing glory  of  his  marvellous  achievements ! 

By  night,  the  Southern  forces  were  close  upon 
Hooker's  headquarters.  Here  they  became  entan- 
gled in  the  felled  trees  and  brushwood  that  pro- 
tected the  Federal  works.  In  the  darkness,  some 
confusion  ensued;  men  and  officers  could  not  recog- 
nize their  own  commands.  It  became  necessary  to 
halt  and  bring  the  ranks  into  order.  Hooker  took 
advantage  of  this  pause,  and  opened  a  tierce  tire  on 
the  woods  which  the  Confederates  had  gained.  At 
ten  o'clock,  General  Jackson  rode  forward  to  ex- 
amine the  position.  In  his  anxiety  to  make  him- 
self fully  aware  of  the  condition  of  affairs,  he  went 
far  beyond  his  own  lines. 

"Orders  had  been  given  to  the  Confederates  to 

*Cooke's  Life  of  Jackson. 


1863.]  GENERAL   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  175 

fire  upon  cavalry  coming  from  the  enemy's  direc- 
tion. As  Jackson  returned,  having  neglected  to 
give  warning  of  his  purpose,  he  was  mistaken  for 
the  foe.  The  fatal  fire  of  his  brave  soldiers  was  di- 
rected full  upon  the  little  group.  All  but  two  were 
killed  or  wounded.  General  Jackson  had  received 
three  shots,  —  two  in  the  arm,  and  one  in  his  right 
hand.  It  was  a  terrible  moment;  the  fire  from  the 
enemy's  batteries  lit  up  the  solemn  woods,  and  fell 
with  a  lurid  light  on  the  pale  face  of  the  great 
chieftain.  Supported  between  his  two  aids,  he  made 
his  way  through  his  own  lines.  At  length  a  litter 
was  procured.  The  fire  of  the  enemy  increased  in 
violence ;  one  of  the  litter-bearers  fell,  wounded  in 
both  arms;  it  was  necessary  to  pause  until  its  fury 
had  abated. 

"As  the  slow  progress  was  made  through  his  old 
troops,  inquiring  glances  turned  upon  them.  Who 
was  this,  so  mysteriously  and  jealously  shielded 
from  view  ?  To  all  questions  came  the  one  answer, 
'A  Confederate  officer.'  At  length  one  of  the  Old 
Brigade  caught^  glimpse  of  the  well-known  face. 
'  Great  God  ! '  he  exclaimed,  '  that  is  General  Jack- 
son ! '  "  * 

General  Lee,  when  the  news  reached  him  of  this 
misfortune,  expressed  with  great  feeling  his  relief, 
and  thankfulness  that  it  was  "  no  worse."  "  Any 
victory,"  he  added,  "  is  a  dear  one  that  deprives 
us  of  the  services  of  Jackson,  even  for  a  short 
time." 

*Cooke's  Lift  of  Jackson. 


176  A    P  0  P  U  L  A  K    I,  1  P  E   O  F  [1 863. 

He  afterwards  wrote  him.  the  following  affection- 
ate and  heroic  words : 

"(TKNERAL:  —  I  have  just  received  your  note,  in- 
forming me  that  you  were  wounded.  I  cannot  ex- 
press my  regret  at  the  occurrence.  Could  I  have 
directed  events,  I  should  have  chosen,  for  the  good 
of  the  country,  to  have  been  disabled  in  your  stead. 
I  congratulate  you  upon  the  victory  which  is  due  to 
your  skill  and  energy." 

When  General  Jackson  received  this  note,  he 
made  the  following  characteristic  reply:  "  General 
Lee  is  very  kind ;  but  he  should  give  the  glory  to 
God." 

In  a  few  days  the  worst  had  come.  General  Lee 
had  lost  his  "right  arm" — the  immortal  Jackson. 
"He  fell  like  the  eagle,"  as  was  said  of  him  by  one 
hardly  less  illustrious,  "his  own  feather  on  the  shaft 
that  was  dripping  with  his  life-blood."  * 

*  Dr.  Craven's  Prison-Life  of  Davis. 


1863.]  GENERAL    ROBERT    E.LEE.  177 


CHAPTER   XVII. 

Stuart  in  Command  of  Jackson's  Corps  —  The  Battle  resumed  — 
"The  Wilderness"  on  Fire — The  Victory — General  Lee's 
Address  to  the  Army  —  Deuth  of  Jackson  announced  in  General 
Orders  —  Letter  from  General  Lee. 

JACKSON  had  fallen  in  the  stress  and  heat  of 
conflict.  The  messenger  who  brought  to  Gen- 
eral Lee  the  news  of  this  disaster,  added,  that  he 
believed  it  had  been  General  Jackson  s  intention  to 
press  the  enemy  on  Sunday.  "  These  people  shall 
be  pressed  to-day,"  was  General  Lee's  instant  re- 
joinder. Hill,  second  in  command  to  Jackson,  was 
wounded  also,  and  to  Stuart,  the  successful  cavalry 
officer,  had  fallen  the  task  of  completing  the  work 
so  well  begun. 

The  loss  of  their  beloved  commander  filled  the 
troops  with  fury  instead  of  dampening  their  ardor. 
With  the  shout,  "  Remember  Jackson !"  they  threw 
themselves  fiercely  into  the  charge. 

Mingled  with  the  cry  of  vengeance  for  the  fallen 
hero,  there  arose  another,  in  strange  and  humorous 
contrast.  The  laughing  tones  of  the  gay  cavalier 
Stuart  were  heard  singing,  as  he  made  the  charge, 
"  Old  Joe  Hooker,  will  you  come  out  of  the  Wilder- 
ness !  " 

This  brave  general,  so  distinguished  as  a  cavalr}7 
leader,  was  now  to  prove  himself  not  unworthy  as 

M 


178 


A    POPULAR    LIFE   OF 


[1863. 


an  infantry  officer,  to  command  the  soldiers  of 
Stonewall  Jackson. 

For  a  while,  despite  the  impetuosity  of  the  assault, 
it  seemed  as  if  the  day  would  go  against  them. 
The  ammunition  gave  out,  and  they  were  ordered 
to  use  the  bayonet;  but  this  proved  needless.  The 
enemy  were  falling  back. 

General  Lee  in  the  meanwhile  was  engaged  in 
front,  slowly  forcing  his  wa}-  to  a  junction  with 
Stuart.  This  accomplished,  his  whole  army  charged 
upon  the  works  at  Ohancellorsville.  Four  times 


BATTLE  OF  CIIANCKI, LORBVILLE. 


1803.]  GENERAL    ROBERT    E.   LEE.  179 

they  were  lost  and  won,  but  at  length  victory  settled 
upon  the  banners  of  Lee.* 

"  The  scene  was  horrible  at  this  moment.  The 
woods,  which  were  full  of  wounded,  had  been  set 
on  lire  by  the  shells,  and  the  fierce  flames  were 
roaring  around  the  helpless  sufferers,  many  of 
whom  perished  in  this  terrible  manner.  The  Chan- 
ccllorsville  house  was  in  a  bright  blaze,  and  the 
clearing  was  full  of  smoke  and  fire.  The  shouts  of 
the  combatants,  the  crash  of  musketry,  the  heavy 
discharges  of  artillery,  and  the  fierce  crackling  of 
the  flames,  all  gave  wild  and  terrible  grandeur  to 
the  scene,  such  as  is  seldom  witnessed  even  on  a 
battle-field.  "  f 

*A  Northern  writer,  who  witnessed  this  combined  attack,  says: 
"The  enemy  couM  be  seen,  sweeping  slowly  but  confidently, 
determinedly  but  surely,  through  the  clearings  which  extended 
in  front.  Nothing  could  excite  more  admiration  for  the  qualities 
of  the  veteran  soldiers  than  I  lie  manner  in  which  the  enemy 
swept  out,  as  they  moved  steadily  onward,  the  forces  which  were 
opposed  to  them.  We  say  it  reluctantly,  and  for  the  first  time, 
that  the  enemy  have  shown  the  finest  qualities,  and  we  acknowl- 
edge on  this  occasion  their  superiority  in  the  open  field  to  our 
own  men.  They  delivered  their  fire  with  precision,  and  were  ap- 
parently inflexible  and  immovable  under  the  storm  of  bullets  and 
shell  which  they  were  constantly  receiving.  Coming  to  a  pieco 
of  timber,  which  wns  occupied  by  a  division  of  our  own  men, 
half  the  number  were  detailed  to  clear  the.  woods.  It  seemed 
certain  that  here  they  would  be  repulsed,  but  they  inarched  riirht 
through  the  wood,  driving  our  own  soldiers  out,  who  delivered 
their  fire  and  fell  back,  halted  again,  fired,  and  fell  back  as  be- 
fore, seeming  to  concede  to  the  enemy,  as  a  matter  of  course,  the 
superiority  which  they  evidently  felt  themselves.  Our  own  men 
fought  well.  There  was  no  lack  of  courage,  but  an  evident  feel- 
ing that  they  were  destined  to  be  beaten,  and  the  only  thing  for 
them  to  do  was  to  fire  and  retreat." 

•)»McCabe'9  J.iff  of  Lef. 


180  A    POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1863. 

Hooker  retreated  to  a  strong  line  in  rear  of 
Chancellorsville,  which  did  not  look  as  if  he  had 
ever  really  expected  to  "he  after  them."  Lee  re- 
solved to  attack  this  position  also,  and  force  him  to* 
retreat  across  the  river. 

But  at  this  moment  tidings  reached  him  which 
demanded  a  new  line  of  action.  Sedgwick  had 
captured  Marye's  Heights,  and  was  marching  upon 
Early  at  Salem  Church.  This,  if  taken,  would  put 
Lee's  position  in  peril. 

The  gallant  Mississippi  Brigade,  under  Barks- 
dale,  with  a  portion  of  the  Washington  Artillery, 
had  withstood  bravely  the  attack  on  Marye's 
Heights.  Three  times  two  thousand  men  had  re- 
sisted the  Federal  advance,  but  at  length  a  flank 
movement  compelled  them  to  evacuate  the  posi- 
tion. Falling  back  slowly,  fighting  as  they  re- 
treated, they  reached  Early.  It  was  at  this  mo- 
ment that  Lee  heard  of  the  danger  threatening  him, 
and  he  immediately  dispatched  McLaw's  division 
to  check  Sedgwick's  advance. 

"  The  course  which  he  adopted  in  this  emer- 
gency was  precisely  that  prescribed  by  the  highest 
principles  of  war  —  the  principles  on  which  Csesar, 
and  Gustavus,  and  Frederick  fought  battles;  but 
it  was  a  course  very  bold  —  unusually  bold  for  the 
cautious  and  methodical  mind  of  the  Confederate 
commander."  * 

*8winf  oil's  Campaigns  of  the  Army  of  the  I'otomac. 


1863.]  GENERAL    ROBERT   E.  LEE.  181 

General  "Wilcox  was  at  Salem  Church  when  the 
brigade  sent  by  General  Lee  joined  him.  An 
action  ensued,  known  as  the  battle  of  Snlcm 
Church,  in  which  Sedgwick  was  driven  back  with 
great  loss,  while  Hooker  remained  behind  his  in- 
trenchments,  guarded  by  Jackson's  corps. 

Hooker's  plans  were  now  entirely  frustrated,  and 
he  fell  back  to  the  north  bank  of  the  river. 

The  losses  at  Chancellorsville  were,  it  is  com- 
puted, on  the  Federal  side  not  less  than  25,000 
men.  The  Confederates  lost  10,000,  but  among 
them  was  Jackson.  This  was  an  irremediable  dis- 
aster. It  cast  its  shadow  over  the  land,  making 
the  victory  count  as  little  in  the  scale. 

It  was  felt  by  all  that  a  great  force  had  been  sud- 
denly, mysteriously  withdrawn  from  the  fabric  of 
the  struggling  nationality.  From  that  hour  to  the 
end,  on  Lee  alone  rested  the  burden  which  only 
Jackson  had  been  competent  to  share. 

The  following  congratulatory  address  was  issued 
while  Jackson  yet  lay,  as  it  was  thought,  only  dan- 
gerously wounded : 

"  HEADQUARTERS  ARMY  OF  NORTHERN  VIRGINIA, 

May  7,  18G3. 
"  GENERAL  ORDER,  No.  5. 

"  With  heartfelt  gratification  the  General  com- 
manding expresses  to  the  army  his  sense  of  the 
heroic  conduct  displayed  by  officers  and  men  during 
the  arduous  operations  in  which  they  have  just  been 
engaged. 

10 


182  A    POPULAR   LIFE   OP  [1863. 

"Under  trying  vicissitudes  of  heat  and  storm  you 
attacked  the  enemy,  strongly  intrenched  in  the 
depths  of  a  tangled  wilderness,  and  again  on  the 
hills  of  Frederickshurg,  fifteen  miles  distant,  and 
hy  the  valor  that  has  triumphed  on  so  many  fields, 
forced  him  once  more  to  seek  safety  beyond  the 
llappahannock.  While  this  glorious  victory  enti- 
tles you  to  the  praise  and  gratitude  of  the  nation, 
we  are  especially  called  upon  to  return  our  grateful 
thanks  to  the  only  Giver  of  victory  for  the  signal 
deliverance  lie  has  wrought. 

"  It  is  therefore  earnestly  recommended  that  the 
troops  unite  on  Sunday  next  in  ascribing  unto  the 
Lord  of  hosts  the  glory  due  unto  His  name. 

"Let  us  not  forget,  in  our  rejoicing,  the  brave 
soldiers  who  have  fallen  in  the  defence  of  their 
country ;  and  while  we  mourn  their  loss,  let  us  re- 
solve to  emulate  their  noble  example. 

"  The  army  and  the  country  alike  lament  the  ab- 
sence for  a  time  of  one  to  whose  bravery,  energy, 
and  skill  they  are  so  much  indebted  for  success. 

"  The  following  letter  from  the  President  of  the 
Confederate  States  is  communicated  to  the  army,  as 
an  expression  of  his  appreciation  of  their  success: 

"  'I  have  received  your  despatch,  and  reverently 
unite  with  you  in  giving  praise  to  God  for  the  suc- 
cess with  which  lie  has  crowned  our  arms.  In  the 
name  of  the  people,  I  otter  my  cordial  thanks  to 
yourself  and  the  troops  under  your  command  for 
this  addition  to  the  unprecedented  series  of  great 
victories  which  our  army  has  achieved.  The  uni- 
versal rejoicing  produced  by  this  happy  result  will 


1863.J  GENERAL    ROBERT    E.  LEE.  183 

be  mingled  with  a  general  regret  for  the  good  and 
brave  who  are  numbered  among  the  killed  and 
wounded.'  R.  E.  LKE,  General." 

A  few  days  later,  General  Lee  issued  this  order, 
announcing  the  death  of  his  great  Lieutenant: 

"  HEADQUARTERS  ARMY  NORTHERN  VIRGINIA, 

"May  11,  1863. 
"  GENERAL  ORDER,  No.  61. 

"  \Vitli  deep  grief,  the  commanding  General  an- 
nounces to  the  army  the  death  of  Lieutenant-Gen- 
eral  T.  J.  Jackson,  who  expired  on  the  10th  instant, 
at  quarter  past  three  p.  M.  The  daring  skill  and 
energy  of  this  great  and  good  soldier,  by  the  de- 
cree of  an  all-wise  Providence,  are  now  lost  to  us. 
But  while  we  mourn  his  death,  we  feel  that  his 
spirit  still  lives,  and  will  inspire  the  whole  army 
with  his  indomitable  courage  and  unshaken  confi- 
dence in  God  as  our  hope  and  strength.  Let  his 
name  be  a  watchword  to  his  corps,  who  have  fol- 
lowed him  to  victory  on  so  many  fields.  Let  his 
officers  and  soldiers  emulate  his  invincible  determi- 
nation to  do  everything  in  the  defence  of  our  be- 
loved country.  R.  E.  LEK,  General." 

General  Lee  thus  wrote  of  this  event  to  one  of 
his  family : 

"CAMP  FREDERIOKSBURO,  May  11,  1863. 

".  .  .  .  In  addition  to  the  death  of  officers  and 
friends  consequent  upon  the  late  battle,  you  will  see 
we  have  to  mourn  the  loss  of  the  great  and  good 


184  A    POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1863. 

Jackson.  Any  victory  would  be  dear  at  such  a 
price.  His  remains  go  to  Richmond  to-day.  I 
know  not  how  to  replace  him ;  but  God's  will  be 
done !  I  trust  lie  will  raise  some  one  in  his  place. 
The  papers  will  give  you  all  the  particulars ;  I  have 
no  time  to  narrate  them." 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 

Cavalry  Fight  at  Brandy  Station  —  Marching  Northward — Milroy 
driven  from  Winchester — Crossing  the  Frontier — Hooker  re- 
signs—  Meade  in  Command  —  General  Lee's  Strict  Orders  for 
Protection  of  Private  Property  —  Exemplary  Conduct  of  the 
Southern  Troops. 

nnilK  condition  of  affairs  at  this  time  in  the  South 
-*-  and  Southwest  was  far  from  encouraging. 
General  "Bragg  had  suffered  repeated  reverses. 
Pembcrton  was  shut  up  in  Vicksburg,  besieged  by 
Grant,  with  no  hope  of  rescue.  The  two  great 
objects  of  the  Federal  Government  —  the  capture 
of  Vicksburg,  which  would  give  them  entire  con- 
trol of  the  Mississippi  River,  and  the  possession  of 
the  Confederate  capital — divided  the  energies  and 
resources  of  the  Northern  armies. 

It  was  proposed  at  this  juncture,  during  the 
month  of  May,  to  send  Tickett's  division  to  Mis- 
sissippi, to  reinforce  the  struggling  army  there ; 
but  upon  the  remonstrances  of  General  Lee,  the 


1863.]  GENERAL    ROBERT    K.  I,  E  E .  185 

proposition  was  abandoned.  There  could  be  no 
doubt  as  to  the  paramount  importance  of  defending 
Richmond,  and,  as  General  Lee  declared,  it  was  a 
question  between  Virginia  and  Mississippi.  Upon  his 
visiting  Richmond,  a  short  time  afterwards,  it  was 
proposed  that  he  should  reinforce  Bragg,  so  as  to 
enable  him  to  drive  back  Rosecrans,  merely  leav- 
ing in  Virginia  a  sufficient  force  to  retain  the  de- 
fensive; or,  by  a  forward  movement  into  Pennsyl- 
vania, remove  the  pressure  upon  the  Western  army, 
and  alarm  the  North  for  the  safety  of  its  own 
capital. 

The  latter  course  was  adopted.  It  offered  many 
advantages :  the  country  had  long  urged  the  expe- 
diency of  making  the  enemy  feel  the  war  by  carry- 
ing it  into  his  own  country,  and  the  whcatjiclds  of 
Pennsylvania  presented  an  abundant  source  from 
whence  to  replenish  the  impoverished  commissariat 
of  the  South.  The  morale  of  the  Army  of  Northern 
Virginia  had  never  been  better  than  at  this  period. 
Its  successes  at  Chancellorsville  had  inspired  it  with 
the  utmost  confidence  in  itself  and  in  its  leaders. 
It  was  now  augmented  by  the  recall  of  Longstreet 
from  North  Carolina,  and  a  new  disposition  of  its 
forces  was  made  by  the  Comtnander-in-chief.  Jack- 
son's old  corps  was  given  to  General  Ewell,  and 
consisted  of  the  divisions  of  Early,  Rodes,  and 
Johnson.  A  third  corps  was  organized  under  A. 
P.  Hill,  embracing  Anderson's,  Pender's,  and  Heth's 

16* 


186  A    POPULAR    LIFE   OF  [1863. 

divisions.  Longst root's  corps  contained  the  divi- 
sions of  Mo  Laws,  Hood,  and  Piokott.  The  whole 
force  amounted  to  seventy  thousand  men,  not  in- 
cluding the  cavalry,  ten  thousand  strong.  Never 
before  hud  the  Southern  army  been  so  nearly  com- 
mensurate to  that  of  its  foes. 

Early  in  June  General  Lee  was  in  motion.  He 
was  anxious  to  blind  Hooker  as  to  his  actual  de- 
signs, and  for  this  purpose  A.  P.  Hill  was  left  in 
position  on  the  Rappahannock,  so  as  to  make  it 
appear  that  the  army  was  still  there.  Longstreet 
was  ordered  to  march  to  Culpepper,  and  Ewell  was 
to  follow  him  on  the  4th  or  5th. 

General  Lee  anticipated  that  Hooker  would  do 
one  of  two  things,  as  soon  as  he  ascertained  that 
the  Confederate  armv  was  moving:  either  advance 

*/  O 

upon  Richmond  —  when  Lee  would  he  in  his  rear, 
and  could  then  capture  Washington;  or  else  fall 
back  to  cover  his  capital,  when  Lee  would  then 
pursue  unmolested  his  march  into  Maryland  and 
Pennsylvania,  across  the  Upper  Potomac. 

On  the  9th  of  June,  a  cavalry-fight  took  place 
between  Stuart  and  Pleasanton,  now  in  command 
of  the  Federal  cavalry  formerly  under  Stoneman. 
The  latter  were  sent  by  Hooker  to  discover  the 
movements  of  the  Confederates,  and  were  en«*a«-ed 

O     O 

by  Stuart  at  Brandy  Station.  A  tierce  combat  en- 
sued, in  which  the  Federals  were  repulsed  with  a 
loss  of  four  hundred  prisoners,  and  several  hun- 
dred killed  and  wounded. 


1863]  GENERAL   ROBERT    E.  LEE.  187 

"  Three  times,"  says  John  Esten  Cooke,  in  his 
account  of  the  battle,  "  the  enemy's  guns  were 
charged  and  captured ;  three  times  the  Confederates 
were  furiously  charged  in  turn,  and  the  pieces  re- 
captured by  the  enemy.  A  final  charge  of  the  gray 
cavalry  carried  all  before  it."  But  at  this  moment 
the  enemy  were  heavily  reinforced,  and  the  condi- 
tion of  the  Confederates  became  perilous.  "  Cav- 
alry were  charging  in  every  direction,  and  it  was 
hard  to  tell  friend  from  foe.  Stuart  was  fighting, 
so  to  speak,  from  the  centre  outwards.  The  enemy 
were  in  his  front,  in  his  rear,  and  on  both  his  flanks. 
If  they  closed  in,  apparently,  he  would  be  crushed  as 
in  a  vice."  The  brigade  of  W.  TI.  F.  Lee,  and  part 
of  Wade  Hampton's  division,  under  General  Young 
of  Georgia,  coming  up  at  this  juncture,  decided  the 
fate  of  the  day.  They  fought  with  sabres,  and  ere 
long  the  enemy  were  flying  towards  the  river,  and 
"  Stuart  had  won  the  greatest  cavalry-fight  of  the 
war."  Stuart's  loss  was  about  five  hundred,  in- 
cluding General  W.  II.  F.  Lee,  wounded. 

Hooker  concluded,  from  the  presence  of  such  a 
force  at  Culpepper,  that  an  attack  was  contemplated 
on  his  rear;  he  hesitated  whether  to  cut  oft'  Hill  at 
Fredericksburg,  or  await  Lee  where  he  was. 

Ewell  in  the  meanwhile  was  pressing  on  to  Win- 
chester, then  under  the  rule  of  the  tyrant  Milroy, 
who  had  won  an  infamous  notoriety  by  his  brutal 
conduct  to  the  unarmed  and  defenceless  inhabitants 
of  that  district. 


188  A   POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1863. 

On  the  14th,  tlie  town  was  invested,  the  Federal 
works  were  carried  by  storm,  and  most  of  the  gar- 
rison captured.*  Milroy  escaped,  with  a  few  of  his 
officers,  under  cover  of  night. 

Colonel  Freemantle,  an  English  officer,  who  en- 
tered the  town  with  Lee's  main  army  not  long  after- 
wards, thus  speaks  of  the  condition  of  the  citizens 
during  the  six  months  of  Milroy's  rule  :  "  During 
the  whole  of  this  time  they  could  not  legally  buy 
an  article  of  provisions  without  taking  the  oath  of 
allegiance,  which  they  magnanimously  refused  to 
do.  They  were  unable  to  hear  a  word  of  their 
male  relations  or  friends,  who  were  all  in  the 
Southern  army ;  they  were  shut  up  in  their  houses 
after  eight  p.  M.,  and  sometimes  deprived  of  light; 
and  they  were  constantly  subjected  to  the  most  hu- 
miliating insults,  on  pretence  of  searching  the 
house  for  arms,  documents,  &c." 

Martinsburg  and  Berry ville  were  als'o  freed  from 

*  Captain  Chcsncy,  Royal  Engineers,  in  his  interesting  work, 
Campaigns  in  Virginia,  Maryland,  <j-c.,  £c.,  says:  ''The  assault 
was  made  by  Huye's  Irish  brigade  of  Early's  division,  with  a  gal- 
lantry freely  acknowledged  by  Northern  eye-witnesses,  and  was 
entirely  successful;"  and  he  adds  in  a  note,  page  20,  vol.  ii.: 

"  It  has  been  remarkable  throughout  the  war,  that  the  Irish  of 
all  classes  resident  in  the  South  have  adopted  the  Confederate 
cause  with  the  greatest  ardor.  Yet  there  were  very  few  slave- 
owners among  them.  But,  us  Dicey  has  acutely  observed,  in  his 
well-known  work  on  the  Federal  States,  'It  would  be  as  absurd  to 
assert  that  the  slavery  cause  was  only  maintained  in  the  South  by 
the  400,000  holders  of  slaves,  as  to  say  that  there  were  no  sup- 
porters of  the  peerage  in  Kngliiud  but  the  thousand  members  or 
90  of  the  nobility  themselves.'  " 


1863.]  GENERAL    ROBERT    E.  LEE.  189 

Federal  domination  by  the  advancing  troops,  and 
in  a  short  time  the  Avhole  valley  was  open  to  the 
Confederates. 

'When  Ewell's  movements  were  made  known  to 
Hooker,  he  perceived  that  lie  had  mistaken  Lee's 
purpose.  lie  withdrew  his  army  from  the  line  of 
the  Kappahannoek,  and  took  up  his  march  towards 
Manassas. 

A.  P.  Hill,  as  soon  as  he  was  satisfied  that  the 
enemy  had  left  Stafford,  started  forward  to  the  val- 
ley. To  protect  his  march,  Longstreet  was  ordered 
to  occupy  the  passes  of  the  Blue  Ridge. 

The  three  corps  were  thus  in  position  to  cross 
into  the  enemy's  country,  Hooker  having  been 
completely  foiled  by  the  strategy  of  the  Southern 
leader. 

Great  consternation  prevailed  in  the  North  at  the 
rumored  approach  of  the  Confederates.  The  mi- 
litia was  called  out  in  Pennsylvania  and  several 
other  States,  and  the  farmers  drove  their  stock 
north  of  the  Susquehanna,  to  be  out  of  reach  of  the 
terrible  Rebels. 

On  the  22d  of  June,  Ewell's  corps  crossed  the 
Potomac  near  Shepherdstown,  passing  through 
Maryland  into  Pennsylvania,  where  they  occupied 
Chambersburg. 

Six  days  later,  Hooker  resigned  his  position,  and 
General  Meade  was  appointed  commander-in-chief 
of  the  Federal  forces,  numbering  one  hundred  and 


190  A    POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1863. 

fifty  thousand  men.  Putting  himself  at  their  head, 
and  disposing  them  so  as  to  cover  both  Baltimore 
and  Washington,  lie  moved  rapidly  forward  to  stop 
the  progress  of  the  Southern  army. 

By  the  27th  of  June,  the  whole  of  the  Confed- 
erate army  was  at  Chamhersburg.  General  Lee 
issued  to  it  the  same  day  the  following  address : 

"HEADQUARTERS  ARMY  NORTHERN  VIRGINIA, 
"CHAMBERSBURG,  Pa.,  June  27, 1868. 

"  GENERAL  ORDER,  No.  73. 

"  The  Commanding  General  has  observed  with 
marked  satisfaction  the  conduct  of  the  troops  on 
the  march,  and  confidently  anticipates  results  com- 
mensurate with  the  high  spirit  they  have  man- 
ifested. No  troops  could  have  displayed  greater 
fortitude  or  better  performed  the  arduous  marches 
of  the  past  ten  days.  Their  conduct  in  other  re- 
spects has,  with  few  exceptions,  been  in  keeping 
with  their  character  as  soldiers,  and  entitles  them 
to  approbation  and  praise. 

"  There  have,  however,  been  instances  of  forget- 
fulness  on  the  part  of  some,  that  they  have  in  keep- 
ing the  yet  unsullied  reputation  of  the  army,  and 
that  the  duties  exacted  of  us  by  civilization  and 
Christianity  are  not  less  obligatory  in  the  country 
of  the  enemy  than  in  our  own. 

"  The  Commanding  General  considers  that  no 
greater  disgrace  could  befall  the  army,  and  through 
it  our  whole  people,  than  the  perpetration  of  the 
barbarous  outrages  upon  the  innocent  and  defence- 
less, and  the  wanton  destruction  of  private  property, 


1863.]  GENERAL    ROBERT    E.LEE.  191 

that  have  marked  tlio  course  of  the  enemy  in  our 
own  country.  Such  proceedings  not  only  disgrace 
the  perpetrators  and  all  connected  with  them,  but 
are  subversive  of  the  discipline  and  efficiency  of 
the  army,  and  destructive  of  the  ends  of  our  pres- 
ent movements.  It  must  be  remembered  that  we 
make  war  only  upon  armed  men,  and  that  we  can- 
not take  vengeance  for  the  wrongs  our  people  have 
suffered  without  lowering  ourselves  in  the  eyes  of 
all  whose  abhorrence  has  been  excited  by  the  atro- 
cities of  our  enemy,  and  offending  against  Him  to 
whom  vengeance  belongeth,  without  whose  favor 
and  support  our  efforts  must  all  prove  in  vain. 

"  The  Commanding  General,  therefore,  earnestly 
exhorts  the  troops  to  abstain,  with  most  scrupulous 
care,  from  unnecessary  or  wanton  injury  to  private 
property ;  and  he  enjoins  upon  all  officers  to  arrest 
and  bring  to  summary  punishment  all  who  shall  in 
any  way  offend  against  the  orders  on  this  subject. 

"  II.  E.  LEE,  General." 

Colonel  Freemantle  gives  his  testimony  to  the 
faithful  manner  in  which  these  orders  were  carried 
out,  in  his  account  of  the  march  : 

"  I  saw  no  straggling  into  the  houses,  nor  were 
any  of  the  inhabitants  disturbed  or  annoyed  by  the 
soldiers.  ...  I  went  into  Chambersburg  again,  and 
witnessed  the  singular  good  behavior  of  the  troops 
towards  the  citizens.  ...  To  one  who  has  seen  as 
I  have  the  ravages  of  the  Northern  troops  in  South- 
ern towns,  this  forbearance  seems  most  commend- 
able and  surprising." 


192  A    POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1863. 

One  of  the  Southern  officers,  writing  to  his  wife 
at  tliis  time,  says : 

"  I  felt,  when  I  first  came  here,  that  I  would  like 
to  revenge  myself  upon  these  people  for  the  devas- 
tation they  have  hrought  upon  our  owTn  beautiful 
home  —  that  home  where  we  could  have  lived  so 
happily,  and  that  we  loved  so  much,  from  which 
their  vandalism  has  driven  you  and  my  helpless 
little  ones.  But,  though  I  had  such  severe  wrongs 
and  grievances  to  redress,  and  such  great  cause  for 
revenge,  yet,  when  I  got  among  these  people,  I 
could  not  find  it  in  my  heart  to  molest  them." 

And  more  than  one  correspondent  of  the  North- 
ern journals  at  that  time  testified  to  the  prompt 
obedience  paid  by  the  Southern  troops  to  the  orders 
of  their  beloved  chief.  Even  a  Pennsylvania  farmer 
could  declare  :  "  I  must  say  they  acted  like  gentle- 
men, and,  their  cause  aside,  I  would  rather  have 
forty  thousand  Rebels  quartered  on  my  premises 
than  one  thousand  Union  troops." 


1863.]         GENERAL   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  193 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

The  Army  in  Pennsylvania  —  General  Lee  Embarrassed  for  Want 
of  Cavalry  —  Gettysburg  —  First  Day  —  Hancock  remains  in 
Possession  of  Cemetery  Ridge  —  Second  Day  —  Attempts  upon 
the  Right  and  Left  —  Third  Day  —  Pickett's  Famous  Charge 
upon  the  Centre  —  La  Garde  Recule  ! 


ENERAL  LEE  was  now  about  to  march  upon 
Harrisburg,  when  news  reached  him  of  the 
rapid  advance  of  the  Federal  army,  arresting  his 
progress,  and  causing  him  some  anxiety  about  the 
safety  of  his  communications. 

The  want  of  cavalry  had  been  severely  felt,  as 
without  it,  it  was  impossible  to  obtain  reliable  in- 
formation as  to  the  movements  of  his  adversary. 
Stuart  was  still  many  miles  away,  the  Federal  army 
between  himself  and  Lee.  lie  had  received  orders 
which,  if  faithfully  carried  out,  would  have  mate- 
rially assisted  General  Lee  in  his  operations.  Gen- 
eral Lee,  with  his  usual  forbearance,  attaches  no 
blame  to  Stuart,*  who  represents  himself  as  una- 
voidably compelled,  by  the  movements  of  Hooker, 
to  take  the  long  and  circuitous  route  which  brought 
him  to  General  Lee's  side  too  late  to  be  of  any  ser- 
vice. The  latter  had  depended  greatly  on  Stuart's 
co-operation.  "  His  anxiety  was  extreme,"  writes 
one  of  his  biographers  ;  "  all  his  staff-officers  ob- 

*  Pollard's  Lee  and  his  Lieutenants. 
17  N 


194  A    POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1863. 

served  the  troubled  look  in  his  face,  as  day  after 
day,  and  at  last  hour  after  hour,  he  inquired  for 
1  news  from  Stuart.'  The  phrase  at  headquarters 
was,  '  We  are  hungry  for  cavalry.'  .  .  .  The  situa- 
tion was  one  in  which  General  Lee  found  himself 
in  the  mountains  of  Pennsylvania,  with  the  eyes  of 
his  army  put  out,  not  knowing  where  the  enemy 
was,  or  where  would  he  the  field  of  battle,  com- 
pelled to  grope  his  way  to  whatever  issue  accident 
might  determine."  * 

To  Gettysburg  —  an  important  centre  where  sev- 
eral roads  met  —  the  two  armies  were  now  gravi- 
tating. Meade  arrived  first.  It  was  not  his  pur- 
pose to  remain  there;  but  the  advance  of  the 
Confederates,  driving  in  Buford's  cavalry,  com- 
pelled the  Federal  troops  to  make  a  stand  at  the 
town.  Reynolds,  commanding  the  Federal  first 
corps,  came  to  the  support  of  the  cavalry.  Form- 
ing in  line  of  battle,  they  received  the  attack  of 
the  Confederates,  and  were  forced  back ;  but  rally- 

*  "  In  General  Lee's  official  report  he  makes  no  complaint  of  the 
disappointment  of  the  campaign  by  the  absence  of  Stuart's  cav- 
alry column ;  and,  indeed,  this  circumstance  was,  until  recently, 
lost  to  history.  General  Lee  was  always  very  abstinent  of  cen- 
sure of  his  officers,  and  he  once  remarked  that  he  could  never 
consider  himself  at  liberty  to  make  reference,  in  his  official 
reports,  to  a  fault  of  an  officer,  unless  it  had  been  found  and 
established  by  a  court-martial.  Despite  General  Stuart's  abun- 
dant record  of  glorious  services,  he  is  said  to  have  deeply  re- 
gretted his  failure  to  get  his  cavalry  in  position  to  serve  us  de- 
signed in  the  campaign,  and  to  have  been  affected  by  the  disap 
pointment  to  the  day  of  his  death. ''  —Lee  and  his  Lieutenant!. 


1863.]          GENERAL   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  195 

ing  again  under  General  Reynolds  in  person,  they 
in  turn  drove  back  the  Confederates.  General 
Reynolds  lost  his  life  in  the  action,  and  several 
hundred  Confederates  were  taken  prisoners,  in- 
cluding Brigadier-General  Archer. 

Brigades  were  now  moved  up  on  either  side,  the 
two  armies  hastening  to  confront  each  other.  The 
struggle  continued  with  varying  success  until  three 
o'clock,  when,  Early's  division  arriving,  an  impet- 
uous attack  was  made  by  him  on  the  Federal  right, 
Rodcs  charging  the  centre.  The  Federal  line  was 
broken,  a  general  advance  followed,  and  the  Fed- 
eral troops  were  driven  in  confusion  through  the 
town,  with  a  loss  of  five  thousand  prisoners  and 
several  pieces  of  artillery.  For  a  short  distance 
the  Confederates  followed  the  retreating  foe,  when 
an  order  came  to  stop  the  pursuit.  Thus  Hancock, 
who  had  succeeded  Reynolds,  gained  time  to  collect 
his  scattered  troops  and  intrench  himself  on  Cem- 
etery Hill,  a  position  so  strong  and  impregnable,  it 
was  of  the  utmost  importance  that  he  should  have 
been  dislodged  while  it  was  yet  possible  to  do  so. 

The  fortunate  moment  passed  away.  Meade's 
Lieutenant  had  seized  upon  the  key  of  the  situation. 
On  the  night  of  the  1st  of  July  it  was  no  longer 
doubtful  with  which  side  rested  the  advantage  of 
position. 

"  Cemetery  Ridge,"  on  which  the  Federal  army 
was  intrenched,  is  a  long  line  of  hills  running 


196  A   POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1863. 

south  of  Gettysburg.  Bending  eastward,  it  termi- 
nates to  the  right  in  Gulp's  Hill,  and  southward 
it  culminates  in  the  jagged  crest  of  Round  Top 
Hill.  Here  rested  Meade's  left.  On  Gulp's  Hill, 
four  miles  distant,  stretched  the  Federal  right. 

About  a  mile  and  a  half  apart,  on  a  lower  but 
parallel  ridge,  lay  encamped  the  forces  of  Lee. 
EwelPs  corps  on  the  left,  A.  P.  Hill  in  the  centre ; 
Longstreet  facing  Round  Top,  occupied  the  Con- 
federate right. 

On  the  morning  of  the  2d  of  July,  the  two  armies 
thus  confronted  each  other.  The  day  wore  away, 
and  neither  side  seemed  disposed  to  begin  the  at- 
tack. Evidently  Meade  had  no  intention  of  coming 
out  from  his  stronghold  to  assume  the  offensive. 
Was  it  not  therefore  advisable  for  General  Lee  to 
decline  fighting  under  such  disadvantages,  by  with- 
drawing his  forces  and  manoeuvring  for  a  more 
favorable  position  ? 

He  thought  otherwise,  and  has  given  the  reasons 
which  determined  his  subsequent  action,  iu  these 
words : 

"  It  had  not  been  intended  to  fight  a  general 
battle  at  such  distance  from  our  base,  unless  at- 
tacked by  the  enemy;  but  finding  ourselves  un- 
expectedly confronted  by  the  Federal  army,  it 
became  a  matter  of  difficulty  to  withdraw  through 
the  mountains  with  our  large  trains.  At  the  same 
time  the  country  was  unfavorable  for  collecting 


1863.]  GENERAL    ROBERT    E.  LEE.  197 

supplies,  while  in  the  presence  of  the  enemy's  main 
body,  as  he  was  enabled  to  restrain  our  foraging 
parties  by  occupying  the  passes  of  the  mountains 
with  regular  and  local  troops.  A  battle  thus  be- 
came, in  a  measure,  unavoidable.  Encouraged  by 
the  successful  issue  of  the  first  day,  and  in  view  of 
the  valuable  results  which  would  ensue  from  the 
defeat  of  the  army  of  General  Meade,  it  was  thought 
advisable  to  renew  the  attack." 

Towards  five  in  the  afternoon,  the  heavy  roll  of 
artillery  broke  the  stillness  of  the  July  day.  It  pro- 
ceeded from  the  Confederate  lines.  Under  cover 
of  this  fire,  General  Lee  had  determined  to  make  a 
desperate  attempt  to  carry  Round  Top  Hill,  which 
would  make  him  master  of  Meade's  entire  position. 
Just  in  front  of  the  hill,  the  Federal  line  had  been 
pushed  forward,  and  seemed  to  offer  an  easily  as- 
sailable point  from  which  the  peak  itself  could  be 
made  accessible. 

To  cover  this  movement,  a  feint  was  to  be  made 
on  the  enemy's  right.  On  Hood's  division,  of 
Longstreet's  corps,  devolved  the  assault  of  Round 
Top  Hill. 

With  the  wild  cheer  peculiar  to  the  Confederate 
troops,  the  impetuous  charge  was  made,  driving  the 
blue  lines  before  them.  The  Federal  left  seemed 
thrown  into  hopeless  confusion.  Already  the  fiery 
Texans  had  clambered  up  the  heights,  and  were 
fighting  desperately  hand-to-hand  with  the  small 
17* 


198  A    POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1863. 

force  that  still  disputed  its  possession.  Victory 
seemed  within  their  grasp ;  but  at  this  moment  a 
Federal  brigade  was  hurried  rapidly  forward,  guns 
were  being  dragged  up  the  heights,  and  a  new  and 
stronger  line  disclosed  itself  beyond.  After  a  des- 
perate struggle,  Hood,  finding  himself  unsupported, 
was  forced  to  fall  back.  The  enemy  had  been 
rapidly  reinforced,  and  the  Confederate  assault, 
after  so  nearly  attaining  success,  had  ended  in  a  re- 
pulse. Ewell,  who  had  changed  the  feint  on  the 
Federal  right  into  an  attack,  had  not  been  entirely 
without  success.  Some  ground  had  been  wrested 
from  the  enemy,  but  the  attack  of  the  several  divi- 
sions not  being  made  with  the  unanimity  that  had 
been  designed,  fell  short  of  really  important  re- 
sults. 

The  morning  of  the  3d  of  July  broke  on  the  two 
armies  still  face  to  face.  It  was  not  possible  to  re- 
treat now  without  one  more  effort  to  retrieve  the 
fortunes  of  the  eager,  ardent  host,  still  full  of 
confidence,  and  panting  for  a  victory  over  the  an- 
tagonist they  had  so  often  vanquished. 

General  Lee  resolved  to  pierce  the  enemy's  cen- 
tre. Again  the  roar  of  cannon  announces  the  ap- 
proaching struggle.  A  hundred  and  forty-five  guns 
were  massed  to  protect  the  attacking  troops.  The 
cannonade  lasted  two  hours.  General  Hancock 
says  of  it : 

"  Their  artillery  fire  was  most  terrific.  ...  It 


1863.]  GENERAL    ROBERT   E.  LEE.  199 

was  a  most  terrific  and  appalling  cannonade,  one 
possibly  hardly  ever  equalled." 

Pickett's  division  of  five  thousand  men  is  chosen 
for  this  assault.  Steadily  they  march  forward;  the 
Southern  guns  can  no  longer  protect  them.  "  Into 
the  gates  of  death  "  they  advance,  these  devoted 
Virginians,  without  pausing,  without  wavering, 
though  men  are  falling  at  every  step,  struck  down 
by  the  deadly  hail  poured  into  their  ranks.  Garnet, 
Kemper,  Armistead,  are  shot  down,  but  Pickett, 
who,  with  his  fiery  eye  and  long  waving  locks, 
seems  the  fit  hero  of  story,  gains  the  crest* 

But  the  division  sent  to  support  him  has  fallen 
back.  Captain  C.  C.  Chesney,  of  the  Royal  Engi- 
neers, who  has  written  an  admirable  book  on  the 
war,  says : 

"Pettigrew's  troops  were  but  raw  in  battle. 
Their  desultory  services  on  the  coast  of  North  Ca- 
rolina had  but  ill  prepared  them  for  the  fearful 
ordeal  of  that  fatal  valley;  and  before  they  had 
completed  the  descent  of  the  slope  on  their  own 
side,  they  wavered,  and  held  back  in  parts,  causing 
those  who  watched  their  conduct  to  augur  ill  for 
Pickett,  should  he  trust  to  their  support 

"  Let  those  who  would  judge  these  troops  severe- 
ly, remember  that  they  were  opposed  to  batteries, 

*  "  It  advanced  over  the  intervening  space  of  near  a  mile  in 
such  compact  and  imposing  order,  that,  whether  friend  or  foe, 
none  who  saw  it  could  refrain  from  admiration  of  its  magnificent 
array."  —  Swinton. 


200  A   POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1863. 

compared  to  whose  cannonade  that  of  the  heaviest 
cannon  of  position  of  Leipsic  or  Waterloo  was  light 
and  trifling." 

"With  thinned  ranks,  without  officers,  assailed 
flank  and  rear,  Pickett  can  no  longer  hold  the  prize. 
Slowly  it  falls  from  his  victorious  grasp. 

"  Whatever  valor  could  do  to  wrest  victory  from 
the  jaws  of  hell,  that  it  must  be  conceded  the  troops 
of  Pickett  had  done,"  writes  a  Northern  historian; 
hut  it  was  of  no  avail.  The  day  was  lost. 

With  the  name  of  Gettysburg,  men  will  always 
associate  the  heroic  charge  of  Pickett's  division. 
A  Northern  critic,  in  reviewing  a  history  of  this 
division,  says: 

"More  is  in  a  name  in  the  South  than  with  us; 
and  it  was  the  custom  there  to  call  brigades,  divi- 
sions, and  corps  after  their  respective  leaders  —  a 
custom  that  is  worthy  of  passing  notice.  Had  it 
any  real  significance  ?  Did  it  mark  the  aristocratic 
tendency  of  the  Southern  mind  ?  Did  it  prove  a 
lofty  sentimental  sense  of  glory  in  the  Southern 
breast?  Some  may  incline  to  think  it  did,  that 
something  more  than  life  and  fortune  and  sacred 
honor  was  dedicated  to  the  fight,  when  each  gen- 
eral officer  threw  his  name  into  the  struggle  before 
all  the  world." 

The  writer  then  goes  on  to  speak  of  that  "  charge 
in  praise  of  which  it  may  be  truly  said,  that  the 
world  never  knew  a  more  glorious  self-sacrifice  for 


1863.]          GENERAL    ROBERT    E.  LEE.  201 

honor's  sake;  "  and  after  detailing  the  casualties, — 
seven  colonels  of  regiments  killed  and  six  wound- 
ed, besides  the  loss  of  the  brigade  commanders, 
Kemper  wounded  and  captured,  Garnet  and  Arniis- 
tead  slain,  —  concludes:  "In  fine,  of  the  whole  com- 
plement of  field  officers  in  fifteen  regiments,  only 
one  escaped  unhurt.  The  loss  in  companies  was 
in  almost  the  same  fearful  proportion.  It  was  one 
of  the  world's  great  deeds  of  arms." 

Colonel  Freemantle,  who  witnessed  the  battle  of 
Gettysburg,  says  of  the  Southern  leaders  after  the 
repulse : 

"  If  Longstrcet's  conduct  Avas  admirable,  that  of 
General  Lee  was  perfectly  sublime.  Tie  was  en- 
gaged in  rallying  and  in  encouraging  the  broken 
troops,  and  was  riding  about  a  little  in  front  of  the 
wood  quite  alone,  the  whole  of  his  staff  being 
engaged  in  a  similar  manner  farther  to  the  rear. 
His  face,  which  is  always  placid  and  cheerful,  did 
not  show  signs  of  the  slightest  disappointment, 
care,  or  annoyance;  and  he  was  addressing  to  every 
soldier  he  met  a  few  words  of  encouragement, 
such  as,  'All  this  will  come  right  in  the  end; 
we  '11  talk  it  over  afterwards  :  but  in  the  meantime 
all  good  men  must  rally.  We  want  all  good  and 
true  men  just  now,'  &c.  He  spoke  to  all  the 
wounded  men  that  passed  him,  and  the  slightly 
wounded  he  exhorted  '  to  bind  up  their  hurts  and 
take  up  a  musket'  in  this  emergency.  Very  few 
failed  to  answer  his  appeal,  and  I  saw  many  badly 


202  A  POPULAR  LIFE  OF  [1863. 

wounded  men  take  off  their  hats  and  cheer  him. 
He  said  to  me,  '  This  has  been  a  sad  day  for  us, 
Colonel  —  a  sad  day;  hut  we  can't  expect  always  to 
gain  victories.'  lie  was  also  kind  enough  to  advise 
me  to  get  into  some  more  sheltered  position,  as  the 
shells  were  bursting  round  us  with  considerable 
frequency. 

"  Notwithstanding  the  misfortune  which  had  so 
suddenly  befallen  him,  General  Lee  seemed  to 
observe  everything,  however  trivial.  When  a 
mounted  officer  began  whipping  his  horse  for  shy- 
ing at  the  bursting  of  a  shell,  he  called  out,  '  Don't 
whip  him,  Captain;  don't  whip  him  !  I  've  got  just 
such  another  foolish  horse  myself,  and  whipping 
does  no  good.' 

"  One  of  his  Generals  coming  up  in  great  dis- 
tress, lamenting  the  state  of  his  brigade,  General 
Lee  shook  hands  with  him,  saying,  '  Never  mind, 
General;  all  this  has  been  my  fault.  It  is  I  that 
have  lost  this  fight,  and  you  must  help  me  out  of 
it  in  the  best  way  you  can.' 

"In  this  noble  manner,"  adds  Colonel  Freemantle, 
"  I  saw  General  Lee  encourage  and  reanimate  his 
somewhat  dispirited  troops,  and  magnanimously 
take  upon  his  own  shoulders  the  whole  weight  of 
the  repulse." 

To  the  conduct  of  the  soldiers  the  English  offi- 
cer pays  this  tribute : 

"  No  words  that  I  can  use  will  adequately  ex- 
press the  extraordinary  patience  and  fortitude  with 


1863.]  GENERAL   ROBERT  E.  LEE.  203 

which  the  wounded  Confederates  bore  their  suffer- 
ings." 

Words  of  cheerful  trust  in  their  commander, 
such  as,  "We've  not  lost  confidence  in  the  old 
man;  this  day's  work  won't  do  him  no  harm. 
'  Uncle  Robert '  will  get  us  into  Washington  yet," 
&c.,  attested  the  courage  and  resolution  which  still 
inspired  the  army  of  Lee. 

The  spirit  of  the  army  was  unbroken.  General 
Meade  himself  testifies  that  there  were  no  symp- 
toms of  demoralization. 

Colonel  Freemantle  says : 

"  General  Lee  and  his  officers  were  fully  impressed 
with  a  sense  of  the  situation ;  yet  there  was  much 
less  noise,  fuss,  or  confusion  of  orders  than  at  an 
ordinary  field-day.  The  men,  as  they  were  rallied 
in  the  wood,  were  brought  up  in  detachments,  and 
lay  down  quietly  and  coolly  in  the  positions  as- 
signed to  them." 

The  condition  of  the  Southern  forces  was  by  no 
means  critical.  They  were  willing  and  anxious  to 
be  attacked.  But  Mcade  showed  no  disposition  to 
advance.  That  it  was  the  part  of  prudence  for 
him  not  to  have  done  so,  may  readily  be  believed 
on  the  testimony  of  General  Longstreet. 

"  I  had,"  he  has  declared,  "  Hood  and  McLaws, 
who  had  not  been  engaged ;  I  had  a  heavy  force 
of  artillery;  I  should  have  liked  nothing  better 


204  A    POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1863. 

than  to  have  been  attacked,  and  have  no  doubt  I 
should  have  given  those  who  tried  as  bad  a  recep- 
tion as  Pickett  received."  * 


CHAPTER   XX. 

The  Retreat  from  Gettysburg  —  The  Attack  upon  the  Wagon 
Trains  —  The  Potomac  Impassable  —  General  Lee  prepares  for 
Battle  —  The  River  falls  —  Back  to  Virginia. 

ON  the  4th,  the  two  armies  occupied  the  same 
positions  as  on  the  first  day's  fight.  On  the 
following  day,  General  Lee  prepared  to  move  his 
army  from  Gettysburg.  This  retreat  was  conducted 
with  skill  and  success.  The  prisoners,  seven  thou- 
sand in  number,  all  the  artillery,  wagon  trains, 
cattle,  &c.,  were  brought  away  safely. 

In  carrying  oft' the  trains,  there  occurred  what  was 
known  in  the  army  as  the  "  wagoner's  fight."  A 

*  Captain  Chesney.  in  the  work  before  referred  to,  says  :  "No 
stronger  proof  can  be  given  of  the  extreme  confidence  of  the  Con- 
federate Generals  in  the  quality  of  their  troops  than  the  wish, 
well  known  to  have  been  felt  by  Lee  and  his  chief  officers  on  the 
4th  of  July,  that  the  enemy  might  celebrate  the  day  by  attempting 
the  counter-attack  which  they  had  somewhat  dreaded  the  night 
before.  The  reserve  ammunition  had  been  so  carefully  husbanded 
that  enough  remained  for  another  day's  action ;  and  it  was  hoped 
that  the  opportunity  might  be  given  for  such  a  repulse  of  the  Fed- 
erals as  should  leave  them  but  little  cause  to  boast  of  their  victory. 
But  Meade'a  intentions  were  of  a  more  cautious  cast  than  his 
enemy  deaired." 


1863.]          GENERAL   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  205 

graphic  account  of  this  has  lately  been  written  by 
the  officer  who  commanded  the  escort  of  the  re- 
treating trains.  He  says : 

"  Daybreak  on  the  morning  of  the  5th  found  the 
head  of  our  column  at  Greencastle,  twelve  or  fif- 
teen miles  from  the  Potomac,  at  Williamsport,  our 
point  of  crossing.  .  .  .  After  a  great  deal  of  harass- 
ing and  desultory  fighting  along  the  road,  nearly 
the  whole  immense  train  reached  Williamsport  a 
little  after  the  middle  of  the  day.  The  town  was 
taken  possession  of;  all  the  churches,  school-houses, 
etc.,  were  converted  into  hospitals,  and  proving  in- 
sufficient, many  of  the  private  houses  were  occu- 
pied. Straw  was  obtained  on  the  neighboring 
farms;  the  wounded  were  removed  from  the  wagons 
and  housed;  the  citizens  were  all  put  to  cooking, 
and  the  army  surgeons  to  dressing  wounds.  The 
dead  were  selected  from  the  train  —  for  many  had 
perished  on  the  way  —  and  were  decently  buried. 
All  this  had  to  be  done,  because  the  tremendous 
rains  had  raised  the  river  more  than  ten  feet  above 
the  fording  stage,  and  we  could  not  possibly  cross. 

"  Our  situation  was  frightful.  We  had  over  ten 
thousand  animals  and  all  the  wagons  of  General 
Lee's  army  under  our  charge,  and  all  the  wounded 
that  could  be  brought  from  Gettysburg.  Our  sup- 
ply of  provisions  consisted  of  a  few  wagon-loads  of 
flour  and  a  small  lot  of  cattle.  My  effective  force 
was  only  about  twenty-one  hundred  men  and  twenty 
odd  field-pieces.  We  did  not  know  where  our 
army  was ;  the  river  could  not  be  crossed,  and 

18 


206  A   POPULAR  LIFE   OP  [1863. 

small  parties  of  cavalry  were  still  hovering  around. 
The  means  of  ferriage  consisted  of  two  small  boats 
and  a  small  wire  rope  stretched  across  the  river, 
which,  owing  to  the  force  of  the  swollen  current, 
broke  several  times  during  the  day.  To  reduce  the 
space  to  be  defended  as  much  as  possible,  all  the 
wagons  and  animals  were  parked  close  together  on 
the  river-bank.  Believing  that  an  attack  would 
soon  be  made  upon  us,  I  ordered  the  wagoners  to 
be  mustered,  and,  taking  three  out  of  every  four, 
organized  them  into  companies,  and  armed  them 
with  the  weapons  of  the  wounded  men  found  in 
the  train.  By  this  means  I  added  to  my  effective 
force  about  five  hundred  men.  Slightly  wounded 
officers  promptly  volunteered  their  services  to  com- 
mand these  improvised  soldiers ;  and  many  of  our 
quartermasters  arid  commissaries  did  the  same 
thing.  We  were  not  seriously  molested  on  the  5th, 
but  next  morning  about  nine  o'clock,  information 
reached  me  that  a  large  body  of  cavalry  from  Fred- 
erick, Maryland,  was  rapidly  advancing  to  attack 
us.  As  we  could  not  retreat  further,  it  was  at  once 
frankly  made  known  to  the  troops,  that,  unless  we 
could  repel  the  threatened  attack,  we  should  all  be- 
come prisoners,  and  that  the  loss  of  his  whole  trans- 
portation would  probably  ruin  General  Lee,  for  it 
could  not  be  replaced  for  many  months,  if  at  all,  in 
the  then  exhausted  condition  of  the  Confederate 
States.  So  far  from  repressing  the  ardor  of  the 
troops,  this  frank  announcement  of  our  peril  in- 
spired all  with  the  utmost  enthusiasm.  Men  and 
officers  alike,  forgetting  the  sufferings  of  the  past 


1863.]  GENERAL    ROBERT   E.  LEE.  207 

few  clays,  proclaimed  their  determination  to  drive 
back  the  attacking  force,  or  perish  in  the  attempt. 
All  told,  we  were  less  than  three  thousand  men. 
The  advancing  force  we  knew  to  be  more  than 
double  ours,  consisting,  as  we  had  ascertained,  of 
five  regular  and  eight  volunteer  regiments  of  cav- 
alry, with  eighteen  guns,  all  under  the  command  of 
Generals  Buford  and  Kilpatrick.  We  had  no  works 
of  am*  kind ;  the  country  was  open  and  almost 
level,  and  there  was  no  advantage  of  position  we 
could  occupy.  It  must  necessarily  be  a  square 
stand-up  fight,  face  to  face.  We  had  twenty-two 
field-guns  of  various  calibre,  and  one  Whitworth. 
These  were  disposed  in  batteries,  in  semi-circle, 
about  one  mile  out  of  the  village,  on  the  summit  of 
a  very  slight  rising  ground  that  lies  back  of  the 
town.  Except  the  artillery,  our  troops  were  held 
out  of  view  of  the  assailants,  and  ready  to  be  moved 
promptly  to  any  menaced  point  along  the  whole 
line  of  nearly  two  miles  in  extent.  Knowing  that 
nothing  could  save  us  but  a  bold  '  bluft''  game, 
orders  had  been  given  to  the  artillery,  as  soon  as  the 
advancing  forces  came  within  range,  to  open  fire 
along  the  whole  line,  and  keep  it  up  with  the 
utmost  rapidity.  A  little  after  one  o'clock,  they  ap- 
peared on  two  roads  in  our  front,  and  our  batteries 
opened.  They  soon  had  their  guns  in  position,  and 
a  very  lively  artillery  fight  began.  We  fired  with 
great  rapidity,  and  in  less  than  an  hour  two  of  our 
batteries  reported  that  our  ammunition  was  ex- 
hausted. This  would  have  been  fatal  to  us  but  for 
the  opportune  arrival  at  the  critical  moment  of  an 


208  A    POPULAR   LIFE   OP  [1863. 

ammunition  train  from  Winchester.  The  wagons 
were  ferried  across  to  our  side  as  soon  as  possible, 
and  driven  on  the  field  in  a  gallop  to  supply  the 
silent  guns.  Not  having  men  to  occupy  half  our 
line,  they  were  moved  up  in  order  of  battle,  first  to 
one  battery,  then  withdrawn  and  double-quicked 
to  another,  but  out  of  view  of  our  assailants  till 
they  could  be  shown  at  some  other  point  on  our 
line.  By  this  manoeuvring,  we  made  the  impres- 
sion that  we  had  a  strong  supporting  force  in  rear 
of  all  our  guns  along  the  entire  front.  To  test  this, 
Generals  Buford  and  Kilpatrick  dismounted  five 
regiments,  and  advanced  them  on  foot  on  our  right. 
We  concentrated  there  all  the  men  we  had,  wagon- 
ers and  all,  and  thus,  with  the  aid  of  the  united  fire 
of  all  our  guns  directed  at  the  advancing  line,  we 
drove  it  back,  and  rushed  forward  two  of  our  bat- 
teries four  or  five  hundred  yards  further  to  the 
front.  This  boldness  prevented  another  charge, 
and  the  fight  was  continued  till  near  sunset  with 
the  artillery.  About  that  time,  General  Fitzhugh 
Lee  sent  a  message  from  toward  Greencastle,  that 
if  we  could  hold  out  an  hour  he  would  reinforce  us 
with  three  thousand  men.  This  intelligence  elic- 

o 

ited  a  loud  and  long  continued  cheer  along  our 
whole  line,  which  was  heard  and  understood  by  our 
adversaries,  as  we  learned  from  prisoners  taken. 
A  few  minutes  later,  General  J.  E.  P.  Stuart,  ad 
vancing  from  IFagerstown,  fell  unexpectedly  upon 
the  rear  of  their  right  wing,  and  in  ten  minutes 
they  were  in  rapid  retreat  by  their  left  flank  in  the 
direction  of  Boonsborough.  Night  coming  on, 
enabled  them  to  escape. 


1863.]  GENERAL,   ROBERT    E.  LEE.  209 

"  By  extraordinary  good  fortune  we  had  thus 
saved  all  of  General  Lee'a  trains.  A  bold  charge 
at  any  time  before  sunset  would  have  broken  our 
feeble  lines,  and  AVC  would  have  fallen  an  easy  prey 
to  the  Federals."  * 

The  next  day  the  army  arrived.  Their  march 
was  deliberate  and  in  perfect  order.  Many  of  the 
badly  wounded  insisted  on  marching  in  the  ranks. 
Full  of  resolution  and  courage,  and  an  undimin- 
ished  confidence  in  their  commander,  "  the  famous 
Army  of  Northern  Virginia  —  great  in  defeat  as  in 
victory  —  took  its  slow  way  back  to  the  soil  of  Vir- 
ginia." 

When  they  had  reached  Williamsport,  the  swollen 
river  barred  their  further  progress.  Then  Lee  and 
his  resolute  troops  sat  down,  with  their  face  to  the 
foe,  and  awaited  the  fall  of  the  waters.  Seven  days 
of  anxious,  perilous  watch  on  the  banks  of  the  Po- 
tomac, with  ammunition  nearly  exhausted,  no  hopo 
of  reinforcements,  M cade's  army  as  strong  in  num- 
bers as  before  the  losses  of  Gettysburg,  advancing 
upon  them,  and  the  treacherous  river  at  their 
backs  —  the  situation  was  appalling. 

General  Lee  was  so  confident  that  Meade  was 
approaching  the  Potomac  for  the  purpose  of  attack- 
ing him,  that  the  day  before  the  arrival  of  the  Fed- 
eral army  he  issued  the  following  order  to  his 

*  "Lee  ut  Gettysburg;"  The  Galaxy,  April,  1871: 
18*  0 


210  A   POPULAR  LIFE   OF  [1863. 

troops,  his  headquarters  being  then  at  Hagers- 
town :  * 

"  HEADQUARTERS  ARMY  OF  NORTHERN  VIRGINIA, 

July  11,  1863. 
"  GENERAL  ORDER,  ISTo.  15. 

"  After  the  long  and  trying  marches,  endured 
with  the  fortitude  that  has  ever  characterized  the 
soldiers  of  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia,  you 
have  penetrated  to  the  country  of  our  enemies,  and 
recalled  to  the  defence  of  their  own  soil  those  who 
were  engaged  in  the  invasion  of  ours.  You  have 
fought  a  fierce  and  sanguinary  battle,  which,  if 
not  attended  with  the  success  which  has  hitherto 
crowned  your  efforts,  was  marked  with  the  same 
heroic  spirit  that  has  commanded  the  respect  of 
your  enemies,  the  gratitude  of  your  country,  and 
the  admiration  of  mankind. 

"  Once  more  you  are  called  upon  to  meet  the 
enemy  from  whom  you  have  torn  so  many  fields  — 
names  that  will  never  die;  once  more  the  eyes  of 
your  countrymen  are  turned  upon  you ;  and  again 
do  wives  and  sinters,  fathers  and  mothers,  and  help- 

*  "At  Hagerstown  he  first  learned  that  his  son,  W.  H.  F.  Lee,  who 
had  been  badly  wounded  at  Brandy  Station,  in  June,  was  now  in 

a   Federal   prison,  and   his  life  in  danger Threats  were 

held  out  as  to  his  life  being  forfeited,  if  the  Richmond  Government 
should  carry  out  the  purpose  they  had  announced  of  retaliating 
on  two  of  their  prisoners  for  the  execution  by  Burnside  (under 
pretences  held  illegal  by  President  Davis)  of  two  Confederate  cap- 
tains lately  taken  in  Kentucky Unmoved  by  all  this 

burden  of  public  and  private  cares,  Lee  lost  neither  the  cool  judg- 
ment, on  which  his  army  relied,  nor  (lie  unruffled  sweetness  of 
temper  which  made  him  the  idol  of  those  about  him." —  Campaigns 
in  Virginia,  Maryland,  Jfc.,  by  C.  C.  Chesiiey,  Royal  Engineers. 


1863.]  GENERAL    ROBERT    E.LEE.  211 

less  children  lean  for  defence  on  your  strong  arms 
and  Imivo  hearts.  Let  every  soldier  remember 
that  on  his  courage  and  fidelity  depends  all  that 
makes  life  worth  having — the  freedom  of  his  coun- 
try, the  honor  of  his  people,  and  the  security  of  his 
home.  Let  each  heart  grow  strong  in  the  remem- 
brance of  our  glorious  past  and  in  the  thought  of 
the  inestimable  blessings  for  which  we  contend; 
and,  invoking  the  assistance  of  that  Heavenly 
Power  which  has  so  signally  blessed  our  former 
efforts,  let  us  go  forth  in  confidence  to  secure  the 
peace  and  safety  of  our  country.  Soldiers,  your  old 
enemy  is  before  you.  AVin  from  him  honor  worthy 
of  your  right  cause,  worthy  of  your  comrades  dead 
on  so  many  illustrious  fields. 

"  R.  E.  LEE,  General  Commanding." 

Earthworks  were  thrown  np,  and  every  prepara- 
tion made  for  the  struggle  which  threatened  them. 
Meade  arrived,  intrenched  himself,  and  waited  also. 

The  following  night  — the  13th  of  July  — the 
Confederate  army  crossed  the  river,  without  other 
loss  than  a  few  disabled  wagons  and  two  pieces 
of  artillery,  the  horses  drawing  the  latter  having 
become  exhausted.  Some  stragglers,  overcome  by 
fatigue,  fell  asleep,  and  going  astray  in  the  rain  and 
darkness,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy.* 

*  It  may  not  be  amiss  here  to  give  the  history  of  a  veteran  hen, 
an  old  campaigner  of  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia,  whose  re- 
markable services  deserve  to  be  commemorated.  It  is  not  remem- 
bered how  or  when  she  made  her  appearance  in  "camp;  "  but  early 
experiencing  the  attentions  of  the  Commander-in-Chief,  she  repaid 


212  A    POPULAR  LIFE  OF  [1863. 

A  flank  movement  was  afterwards  made  by 
Meade,  who,  crossing  the  river  at  Berlin,  attempted 
to  cut  off  the  further  retreat  of  Lee,  but  without 
success. 

On  the  1st  of  August  the  Confederate  army  was 
established  in  safety  on  the  Rapidan,  Meade  facing 
Lee,  each  in  very  nearly  the  same  position  as  before 
the  march  into  Pennsylvania. 

The  campaign  was  over. 

his  notice  by  laying  an  egg  every  day  beneath  Ibe  table  of  his 
tent.  Whenever  the  encampment  was  changed,  the  old  hen  was 
seen  to  fly  upon  the  last  wagon,  where,  perched  upon  the  baggage, 
she  made  the  "march."  She  accompanied  the  army  into  Penn- 
sylvania, and  after  the  battle  of  Gettysburg,  in  the  retreat,  amid 
the  darkness  and  rain,  the  old  hen  was  forgotten.  What  was  the 
amazement  of  the  men,  when  the  sun  shone  upon  the  army  safe 
upon  the  Virginia  side  of  the  Potomac,  to  find  the  hen,  who  had 
outlived  all  the  danger  of  the  campaign,  again  at  her  post  of 
duty.  This  veteran  survived  the  war. 


1863.]  GENERAL    ROBERT    E.  LEE.  213 


CHAPTER   XXL 

Dark  Days  in  the  Confederacy  —  Proclamation  by  the  President  — 
General  Lee's  Order  to  the  Army  —  Longstreet's  Corps  sent  to 
Tennessee  —  General  Lee  advances  upon  Meade  —  Stuart's  nar- 
row Escape  —  Engagement  at  Bristoe  Station  —  Back  to  the 
Ilapidan  —  Winter  Quarters. 


full  of  Vicksburg,  occurring  at  the  same 
-*-  time  with  the  disaster  at  Gettysburg,  marked  a 
period  of  unprecedented  gloom  in  the  fortunes  of 
the  Confederacy.  All  hope  of  a  speedy  termination 
of  the  war  had  vanished. 

On  the  15th  of  July  Mr.  Davis  issued  a  procla- 
mation, calling  into  the  military  service  every  male 
between  the  ages  of  eighteen  and  forty-five. 

A  day  of  humiliation  and  prayer,  appointed  by 
the  President  in  August,  was  observed  throughout 
the  country.  The  following  order  was  issued  by 
General  Lee  in  regard  to  its  observance  : 

"HEADQUARTERS  ARMY  OF  NORTHERN  VIRGINIA, 

"  August  13,  1863. 
"  GENERAL  ORDERS,  No.  83. 

"  The  President  of  the  Confederate  States  has, 
in  the  name  of  the  people,  appointed  the  21st  day 
of  August  as  a  day  of  fasting,  humiliation,  and 
prayer.  A  strict  observance  of  the  day  is  enjoined 
upon  the  officers  and  soldiers  of  this  army.  All 
military  duties,  except  such  as  are  absolutely  neces- 
sary, will  be  suspended.  The  commanding  officers 


214  A  POPULAB  LIFE  OP  [1863. 

of  brigades  are  requested  to  cause  Divine  service, 
suitable  to  the  occasion,  to  be  performed  in  their 
respective  commands. 

"  Soldiers !  we  have  sinned  against  Almighty 
God.  We  have  forgotten  his  signal  mercies,  and 
have  cultivated  a  revengeful,  haughty,  and  boastful 
spirit.  We  have  not  remembered  that  the  defend- 
ers of  a  just  cause  should  be  pure  in  His  eyes,  that 
*  our  times  are  in  His  hands ; '  and  we  have  relied 
too  much  on  our  own  arms  for  the  achievement  of 
our  independence.  God  is  our  '  only  refuge  and 
our  strength.'  Let  us  humble  ourselves  before  him. 
Let  us  confess  our  many  sins,  and  beseech  Him  to 
give  us  a  higher  courage,  a  purer  patriotism,  and 
more  determined  will;  that  He  will  convert  the 
hearts  of  our  enemies;  that  He  will  hasten  the 
time  when  war,  with  its  sorrows  and  sufferings, 
shall  cease,  and  that  He  will  give  us  a  name  and  a 
place  among  the  nations  of  the  earth. 

"  R.  E.  LEE,  General." 

August  and  September  wore  away  without  any 
event  of  importance,  except  that,  during  the  latter 
month,  General  Lee's  force  was  reduced  by  the 
transfer  of  the  first  corps,  under  Longstreet,  to  the 
army  of  Bragg  in  Tennessee.  Meade  was  about 
to  take  advantage  of  Lee's  diminished  numbers, 
and  attempt  a  flank  movement,  when  he  received 
orders  to  send  off  two  corps  to  reinforce  the  Fed- 
eral army  at  Chattanooga.  General  Lee  now  de- 
termined, although  his  opponent's  force  still  ex- 


1863.]  GENERAL   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  215 

eeeded  his  own,  to  execute  a  bold  movement, 
which,  if  successful,  would  result  in  cutting  off 
Meade's  communications  with  Washington.  By  a 
circuitous  march  along  private  roads,  he  came 
within  a  short  distance  of  Culpepper  Court-IIouse. 
Fitz-Lee's  cavalry  and  a  detachment  of  infantry 
were  left  belli  nd  for  the  purpose  of  deceiving  the 
enemy.  General  Stuart,  with  the  rest  of  the  cav- 
alry, accompanied  General  Lee  to  protect  the  ad- 
vance. Coming  upon  the  Federal  cavalry  at  James 
City,  they  were  driven  back  upon  Culpepper  Court- 
IIouse,  where  Meade'a  army  lay.  Finding,  from 
this  attack,  that  his  right  flank  had  been  turned, 
Meade  retreated  across  the  Rappahannock. 

General  Lee,  pushing  forward  his  whole  army, 
occupied  the  Court-IIouse  on  the  llth.  An  en- 
gagement took  place  that  evening,  at  Brandy  Sta- 
tion, between  the  cavalry  of  the  two  armies.  Stu- 
art being  now  reinforced  by  Fitz-Lee's  division, 
the  Federal  troops  were  driven  across  the  river  with 
severe  loss.  Lee  hastened  forward  in  hopes  of  in- 
tercepting Meade's  retreat.  Arrived  at  the  Rappa- 
hannock opposite  "Warrenton  Springs,  a  cavalry 
skirmish  ensued,  with  some  artillery  firing;  but 
the  passage  of  the  river  was  at  length  effected, 
and  in  a  short  time  the  whole  army  reached  War- 
renton. 

Meade  was  still  in  doubt  as  to  the  designs  of  his 
adversary,  and  deciding  that  his  retreat  had  been 


216  A   POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1863. 

too  precipitate,  resolved  to  return  to  Culpepper 
and  give  battle.  A  portion  of  his  troops  had  al- 
ready turned  back  for  this  purpose,  when  news 
reached  him  of  the  repulse  of  his  cavalry  at  the 
Rappahannock,  which  made  him  aware  of  the 
danger  to  which  he  was  exposing  himself.  Orders 
were  immediately  dispatched  to  recall  those  forces, 
which  at  once  returned  to  Culpepper. 

It  was  at  this  juncture  that  General  Stuart  found 
himself  placed  in  a  critical  position  between  two 
large  bodies  of  the  enemy.  Having  set  out  on  a 
reconnoissance  to  Catlet's  Station,  he  found,  on 
nearing  the  place,  that  the  enemy  was  in  his  front. 
Turning  to  retrace  his  steps  to  Warrenton,  his 
scouts  reported  heavy  masses  of  infantry  moving 
towards  him  on  this  road. 

He  was  hemmed  in  between  the  columns  of 
French  and  Warren,  concealed  in  a  narrow  belt  of 
woods,  within  sound  almost  of  the  enemy's  voices. 
The  Confederate  cavalry  passed  an  anxious  night. 
Messengers,  in  blue  coats,  had  been  sent  to  General 
Lee  to  acquaint  him  with  their  perilous  position. 
Afraid  to  sleep,  fearful  lest  some  incautious  sound 
should  betray  them,  they  sat  on  their  horses  through 
the  weary  hours,  in  anxious  expectation  of  the 
dawn. 

The  camp-fires  lighted  to  get  breakfast,  within  a 
hundred  and  fifty  yards  of  their  place  of  conceal- 
ment, showed  them  the  faces  of  their  dangerous 


1863.]  GENERAL    ROBERT   E.  LEE.  217 

neighbors;  and  two  of  Meade's  staff  strayed  into 
their  covert  during  the  night  and  were  captured. 

At  length  the  glad  sound  of  musketry  announced 
the  approach  of  Confederate  infantry.  Stuart  im- 
mediately opened  upon  the  Federals  from  the  rear 
with  his  artillery,  causing  great  consternation  by 
the  unexpectedness  and  precision  of  his  fire.  Then 
moving  aside  and  leaving  the  main  roads,  he  made 
his  way  to  Lee's  lines,  without  sustaining  any  loss.* 

Lee's  army,  which  had  been  delayed  in  "\Varren- 
ton  to  procure  provisions,  was  divided  into  two 
columns,  and  resumed  its  march  on  the  14th. 

By  different  roads,  the  two  commands  under 
Ewell  and  Hill  were  ordered  to  make  their  way  as 
rapidly  as  possible  to  Bristoe  Station.  But  Meade, 
now  fully  cognizant  of  their  designs,  and  having 
the  shorter  line,  succeeded  in  bringing  up  his  forces 
before  Lee  arrived. 

Hill  coming  up  with  the  Federal  rear-guard  near 
the  Station,  a  severe  engagement  took  place ;  and 
mistaking  the  strength  of  the  force  opposed  to  him, 

*  "  Unseen  himself  in  the  valley,  veiled  by  mist  and  the  gray 
morning  light,  he  had  yet  a  plain  view  of  the  Union  forces  on  the 
illuminated  hill-tops,  and  for  a  few  minutes,  till  the  troops  could 
be  moved  to  the  opposite  side  of  the  hill  under  cover,  the  fire 
from  the  Confederate  batteries  told  with  fatal  effect.  A  remark- 
able example  of  this  destructive  effect  was  furnished  by  one  of 
the  shells  which  killed  seven  men.  Having  thus  paid  his  compli- 
ments, the  rollicsome  sabrenr  escaped  by  moving  to  the  rear 
around  the  Union  rear-guard." — SWINTON  :  Army  of  the  Poto- 
mac. 

19 


218  A   POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1863. 

he  advanced  Ins  two  brigades  upon  the  enemy's 
strong  position,  and  was  repulsed  with  great  loss. 

General  Lee  arriving  with  the  main  body  after 
the  unfortunate  affair  had  terminated,  found  Meade 
already  in  a  position  of  safety  beyond  Bull  Run. 

The  expedition  had  failed  of  its  legitimate  object, 
but  had  been  accompanied  by  a  success  in  the  valley, 
which  slightly  compensated  for  the  disappointment 
experienced  elsewhere. 

General  Imboden,  to  whom  had  been  intrusted 
the  task  of  guarding  the  passes  of  the  Blue  Ridge, 
not  content  with  accomplishing  this  object,  deter- 
mined to  capture  the  garrison  at  Charlestown. 

Marching  from  Berryville  on  the  18th,  he  con- 
trived his  movements  with  so  much  caution,  that 
his  vicinity  was  not  suspected  by  the  Federals  until 
the  town  was  surrounded. 

The  garrison,  four  hundred  and  thirty-four  offi- 
cers and  men,  surrendered  after  a  slight  resistance. 
The  Lieutenant-Colonel  and  several  other  officers, 
making  their  escape,  gave  the  alarm  at  Harper's 
Ferry.  A  force  was  immediately  sent  from  there, 
but  arrived  too  late  for  the  succor  of  Charlestown. 

General  Lee  estimated  his  losses  in  this  entire  ex- 
pedition at  one  thousand  men.  He  took  two  thou- 
sand prisoners. 

After  destroying  the  Orange  and  Alexandria 
railroad,  from  Bull  Run  back  to  the  Rappahan- 
nock,  General  Lee  now  began  falling  back,  Meade 
pursuing  without  overtaking  him. 


1863.]  GENERAL   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  219 

In  this  retrograde  movement  occurred  the  fight 
between  Stuart's  cavalry  and  that  of  General  Kil- 
patrick,  known  among  Stuart's  troops  as  the  "  Buck- 
land  races,"  which  a  Northern  historian  details  in 
these  words : 

"  While  on  the  advance  towards  Warrenton,  on 
the  19th,  Kilpatrick's  division  skirmished  warmly 
with  Hampton's  division  up  to  Buckland  Mills,  at 
the  crossing  of  Broad  Run,  on  the  southern  bank 
of  which  Hampton  took  post,  under  the  personal 
direction  of  Stuart,  who  here  planned  a  skilful 
manoeuvre  to  defeat  his  opponent.  Kilpatrick  hav- 
ing forced  the  crossing  by  turning  the  flank  of  Hamp- 
ton, Stuart  fell-  back  slowly  towards  Warrenton, 
with  the  view  of  permitting  Fitz-Lee's  cavalry 
division  to  come  up  from  Auburn  and  attack  the 
Union  cavalry  in  flank  and  rear.  This  plan  was 
carried  out  with  some  success.  Fitz-Lee,  arriving 
just  below  Buckland,  surprised  Kilpatrick's  force 
on  the  flank,  and  Stuart,  hearing  Fitz-Lee's  guns, 
pressed  vigorously  in  front  with  Hampton's  divi- 
sion. A  stubborn  resistance  was  offered,  but  a 
charge  an  fond  finally  forced  Kilpatrick's  command 
to  give  way,  and  he  retreated  in  some  confusion." 

" Great  confusion,"  adds  the  writer,  in  a  foot-note, 
quoting  from  Stuart's  report. 

A  member  of  Stuart's  staff  describes  this  affair 
as  "  one  of  the  most  animated  of  the  war." 

The  "  ruse"  suggested  by  Fitz-Lee  had  succeeded 
admirably.  Stuart's  retreat  was  only  meant  to  draw 
his  adversary  into  the  snare  awaiting  him. 


220  A    POPULAR    LIFE   OF  [1863. 

"  Then  Fitz-Lee  was  to  attack  the  enemy  in  flank 
and  rear,  from  the  direction  of  Auhurn.  His  can- 
non would  1)0  the  signal  for  Stuart  to  return 

"  Suddenly  the  wild  Southern  cheer  rani?  above 
the  woods.  Stuart  and  Fitz-Lce  had  united  their 
forces.  In  one  solid  column  they  pressed  the  flying 
enemy,  hanging  and  thundering  on  their  rear  with 
carbines  and  cannon.  Kilpatrick  was  defeated;  his 
column  in  hopeless  rout. 

"  '  Stuart  boasts  of  having  driven  me  from  Cul- 
pcpper,'  he  is  reported  to  have  said,  just  before  the 
fight,  '  and  now  I  am  going  to  drive  him!  '  " 

On  returning  to  the  Rappahannock,  General  Lee 
posted  his  troops  on  both  sides  of  the  railroad, — 
Ewell  on  the  right,  Hill  on  the  left,  —  and  quietly 
waited  the  approach  of  Aleade. 

The  latter  was  not  long  in  repairing  the  damage 
done  to  the  railroad  by  the  Confederates,  and  as 
soon  as  this  was  completed,  he  prepared  for  another 
advance. 

On  the  7th  of  November,  the  Federal  forces  had 
reached  the  Rappahannock,  and  at  Kelly's  Ford, 
where  the  Confederate  picket  was  not  strong  enough 
to  oppose  them,  the  passage  of  the  river  was  effected. 
At,  the  railroad-bridge,  Early's  division  was  posted 
to  prevent  tlu-ir  crossing.  Two  brigades  were 
thrown  forward  to  the  north  side  of  the  river,  in 
a  strong  position,  where  it  was  supposed  they  would 
be  enabled  to  hold  their  ground,  assisted  by  the 


1863.]         GENERAL   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  221 

Confederate  guns  posted  on  the  Southern  bank. 
Late  in  the  evening,  this  little  force  found  itself  at- 
tacked by  Sedgwick's  entire  corps.  The  darkness 
of  the  night  made  it  impossible  to  see  the  move- 
ments of  the  enemy.  A  high  wind  deadened  the 
sound  of  their  approach,  and  the  fear  of  injuring 
their  own  men  prevented  the  artillery  from  render- 
ing any  assistance. 

The  Confederates,  unable  to  withstand  the  over- 
whelming charge,  many  of  them  were  captured, 
one  hundred  killed  and  wounded,  the  rest  escaping 
in  the  darkness  and  confusion  by  swimming  the 
river. 

General  Meade  now  advanced  and  took  up  his 
old  position  on  the  Rappahannock,  and  General 
Lee  soon  after  retired  behind  the  Rapidan,  as  he 
was  not  prepared  to  risk  a  general  engagement. 
He  strongly  intrenched  himself;  his  right  on  the 
Rapidan  at  Morton's  Ford,  and  his  left  on  Mine 
Run,  a  small  stream  running  at  right  angles  to  the 
Rappahannock. 

Learning  that  some  of  the  lower  fords  of  the 
Rapidan  had  been  left  uncovered,  General  Meade 
resolved,  in  the  latter  part  of  November,  to  make  an 
effort  to  get  in  Lee's  rear  and  cut  off  his  commu- 
nications with  Richmond. 

Rumors  of  these  contemplated  movements  reach- 
ing Lee,  preparations  were  speedily  made  to  resist 
them. 

19* 


222  A    POPULAR    LIFE   OF  [1863. 

The  following  order  was  issued  in  contemplation 
of  a  general  advance  on  the  part  of  the  enemy : 

"HEADQUARTERS  ARMY  NORTHERN  VIRGINIA, 
"  November  26,  1863. 

"  GENERAL  ORDER,  No.  102. 

"  The  enemy  is  again  advancing  upon  our  capi- 
tal, and  the  country  once  more  looks  to  this  army 
for  its  protection.  Under  the  hlessings  of  God, 
your  valor  has  repelled  every  previous  attempt,  and 
invoking  the  continuance  of  His  favor,  we  cheer- 
fully submit  to  Him  the  issue  of  the  coining  conflict. 

"  A  cruel  enemy  seeks  to  reduce  our  fathers  and 
our  mothers,  our  wives  and  our  children,  to  abject 
slavery;  to  strip  them  of  their  property  and  drive 
them  from  their  homes.  Upon  you  these  helpless 
ones  rely  to  avert  these  terrible  calamities,  and  se- 
cure to  them  the  blessings  of  liberty  and  safety. 
Your  past  history  gives  them  the  assurance  that 
their  trust  will  not  be  in  vain.  Let  every  man  re- 
member that  all  he  holds  dear  depends  upon  the 
faithful  discharge  of  his  duty,  and  resolve  to  fight, 
and,  if  need  be,  to  die,  in  defence  of  a  cause  so 
sacred  and  worthy  the  name  won  by  the  army  on 
so  many  bloody  fields. 

(Signed)  R.  E.  LEE,  General." 

In  an  action  at  Germanna  Ford,  on  the  27th,  the 
Federal  division  of  General  French  was  repulsed 
with  considerable  loss.  Bringing  up  the  rest  of  his 
forces,  Meade  decided  upon  a  general  attack ;  but 


1863.]  GENERAL   ROBERT    E.  LEE.  223 

on  discovering  the  strength  of  Lee's  position,  aban- 
doned his  intention,  after  some  slight  skirmishing. 

Finding  that  he  had  failed  in  surprising  his 
adversary,  and  fearing  that  the  winter  season  would 
overtake  him  away  from  his  supplies,  General 
Meade  determined  to  withdraw  his  troops  and  re- 
tire to  Brandy  Station. 

Early  in  December,  both  armies  had  gone  into 
winter-quarters,  —  Meade  on  the  Rappahannock ; 
Lee  on  the  old  line  of  the  Rapidan. 


CHAPTER   XXII. 

Privations  of  the  Army  —  Incidents  at  Headquarters  —  General 
Lee's  Letter  to  the  City  Council  of  Richmond  —  An  Address  to 
the  Army  —  The  Dahlgren  Raid. 


ENERAL  Lee  found  himself  in  the  winter  of 
'63-64  much  embarrassed  with  the  question  of 
subsistence  for  his  troops.  Corn  meal,  and  that  in 
very  insufficient  quantities,  with  four  ounces  of  fat 
pork  eacli  day,  came  to  be  the  only  rations.  He 
made  repeated  representations  to  the  Commissary 
Department  and  in  other  quarters,  and  at  one  time 
wrote  to  the  President  that  he  "  feared  he  would 
not  be  able  to  keep  the  troops  in  the  field." 

Another  evil  making  itself  alarmingly  apparent, 
was  the  decrease  in  the  army  itself.     Poorly  fed  and 


224  A    POPULAR   LIFE  OF  •     [1863. 

scantily  clothed,  desertions  became  numerous.  The 
conscription  had  failed  to  fill  the  ranks,  and  it  was 
apparent  that  the  Government  had  committed  an 
error  in  not  enlisting  troops  for  the  war. 

General  Lee  shared  the  privations  of  his  men. 
His  ordinary  allowance  for  the  mess-table  during 
this  period  consisted  of  "  a  head  of  cabbage  boiled 
in  salt  water,  and  a  '  pone '  of  corn  bread."  Meat 
was  eaten  only  twice  a  week. 

An  amusing  anecdote  is  related  by  one  of  his 
officers.  "  General  Lee  having  one  day  invited  some 
gentlemen  to  dine  with  him,  the  negro  servant  was 
ordered  to  procure  a  dish  of  bacon  and  cabbage. 
The  company  arrived,  and  sat  down  before  a  large 
dish  of  cabbage,  with  a  very  small  bit  of  middling 
in  the  centre — an  island  in  a  sea  of  cabbage.  Upon 
being  asked  to  partake  of  the  unwonted  delicacy, 
each  guest  politely  declined,  and  the  meat  was  car- 
ried away  untasted.  The  following  day  at  dinner, 
General  Lee  asked  for  the  bacon,  when  the  embar- 
rassed servant,  scratching  his  head,  stammered  out, 
*  De  fac  is,  Marse  Robert,  dat  ar  midlin'  was  bor- 
rered  midlin' ;  I  done  took  it  back  to  the  man  whar 
I  got  it  from.'  "  * 

*  The  same  otticer  gives  an  instance  of  General  Lee's  love  of  a 
joke,  in  the  following:  "  With  till  his  grandeur  of  character,  his 
simplicity  was  almost  childlike,  and  his  relish  of  a  joke  hearty.  To 
illustrate  this,  our  old  friond,  Mrs.  1<\,  living  about  a  mile  from  our 
headquarters,  sent  me  one  diiy  a  demijohn  of  buttermilk,  which, 
knowing  his  fondness  for  it,  1  directed  Bryan,  our  factotum,  to  take 


1864.]  GENERAL    ROBERT    E.  LEE.  227 

to  provide  for  its  wants.  It  is  hoped  that  the  exer- 
tions now  being  made  will  render  the  necessity  of 
short  duration ;  but  the  history  of  the  army  has 
shown  that,  the  country  can  require  no  sacrifice  too 
great  for  its  patriotic  devotion. 

"  Soldiers  !  you  tread  witli  no  unequal  steps  the 
road  by  which  your  fathers  inarched  through  suf- 
fering, privation,  and  blood  to  independence! 

"  Continue  to  emulate  in  the  future,  as  you  have 
in  the  past,  their  valor  in  arms,  their  patient  endur- 
ance of  hardships,  their  high  resolve  to  be  free, 
which  no  trial  could  shake,  no  bribe  seduce,  no 
danger  appall ;  and  be  assured  that  the  just  God, 
who  crowned  their  efforts  with  success,  will,  in  his 
own  good  time,  send  down  his  blessing  upon  yours. 

"  R.  E.  LEE,  General." 

In  order  to  fill  up  the  ranks,  General  Lee  issued 
an  order  offering  furloughs  to  all  who  would  pro- 
cure an  able-bodied  recruit.  About  this  time  also 
several  additional  cavalry  brigades  were  organized 
at  his  suggestion. 

In  the  latter  part  of  January  an  expedition  against 
Richmond  was  planned  by  B.  F.  Butler,  then  in 
command  of  a  force  on  the  Peninsula.  In  order  to 
insure  a  surprise,  attention  was  to  be  drawn  from 
Richmond  by  a  feint  against  Lee  from  the  main 
army.  The  raiding  force  set  out;  but  finding  the 
approaches  to  Richmond  more  securely  guarded 
than  they  had  supposed,  they  fell  back  to  the  Pen- 
insula. The  movement  resulted  in  the  loss  of  two 


228  A    POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1864. 

hundred  and  fifty  men,  without  any  compensating 
gain. 

In  February,  another  attempt  was  made  against 
Richmond,  witli  designs  of  such  a  nature  as  will 
ever  make  it  an  anomaly  in  the  history  of  civilized 
warfare.  From  written  documents  found  on  the 
person  of  Colonel  Dahlgrcn,  the  officer  second  in 
command,  the  object  was  discovered  to  be  the  liber- 
ation of  the  prisoners  at  Belle  Isle,  and,  with  their 
assistance,  the  destruction  of  the  town  by  fire,  and 
the  murder  of  the  President  and  Cabinet.  General 
Kilpatrick,  the  officer  in  command  of  the  whole 
force,  was  to  advance  with  a  portion  of  the  cavalry 
on  the  north  side  of  the  city,  taking  the  road  by  the 
Brook  Tavern.  Colonel  Dahlgren  was  to  march  with 
another  detachment  through  Goochland  County; 
while  General  Custer  made  a  feint  upon  Charlottes- 
ville  for  the  purpose  of  covering  the  real  object  of 
the  expedition.  Custer,  finding  Stuart's  horse  artil- 
lery near  Charlottesville,  retreated  to  Madison  Court- 
Ilouse.  Kilpatrick,  after  he  had  arrived  within  a 
short  distance  of  the  line  of  fortifications  around 
Richmond,  suddenly  turned  aside  and  took  the  road 
to  the  Peninsula.  Thus  Dahlgren  was  left  unsup- 
ported. Expecting  to  be  joined  by  Ivilpatrick,  he 
marched  to  within  four  miles  of  Richmond.  Here 
lie  was  met  by  a  small  force  of  militia,  composed  of 
the  department  clerks  and  laborers  in  the  Govern- 
ment works.  Confident  of  repulsing  raw  recruits 


1864.]          GENERAL   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  229 

with  his  piekctl  men,  lie  charged  upon  them,  but 
was  met  by  such  a  steady  fire  that  lie  did  not  renew 
the  attack.  He  decided  to  retreat,  but  becoming 
separated,  with  about  a  hundred  men,  from  the  rest 
of  his  party,  he  came  upon  another  detachment  of 
Confederates,  composed  partly  of  regulars,  partly 
of  home-guards.  The  news  of  the  raid,  and  the 
peril  of  the  city,  having  spread  throughout  the  dis- 
trict, this  force  had  been  hastily  collected  to  cut  off 
the  retreat  of  the  Federal  cavalry.  A  skirmish  en- 
sued, in  which  Dahlgren  was  shot  and  mortally 
wounded  ;  the  rest  of  the  party,  after  a  few  shots, 
fled  in  confusion.  Eighty  surrendered  the  follow- 
ing day,  finding  escape  impossible. 

Thus  ended  the  "  Dahlgren  Raid,"  one  of  the 
saddest  events  of  the  war,  when  we  consider  the 
high  social  position,  refined  education,  and  gentle 
manners  of  the  young  man,  hardly  over  twenty,  to 
whom  was  confided  so  cruel  a  purpose.  The 
authenticity  of  the  Dahlgren  papers  was  afterwards 
denied  by  the  father  of  Colonel  Dahlgren,  but  their 
genuineness  was  clearly  proved  in  the  investigations 
made  by  the  Confederate  authorities  at  the  time.* 

Richmond  breathed  freely  after  her  escape  from 
this  great  peril.  Had  not  Tvilpatrick  retreated 
when  he  did,  thus  affording  time  for  the  organiza- 
tion of  a  force  in  her  defence,  the  1st  of  March 
would  have  witnessed  the  doom  of  the  devoted  city. 

*  "  Lost  Cause,"  p.  504. 
20 


230  A   POPULAR   LIFE   OP  [1864. 

The  following  general  order  was  issued  by  Gen- 
eral Lee  in  the  latter  part  of  March  : 

"HEADQUARTERS  ARMY  OF  NORTHERN  VIRGINIA, 
"  March  30, 1864. 

"  GENERAL  ORDER,  No.  23. 

"  In  compliance  with  the  recommendations  of  the 
Senate  and  House  of  Representatives,  his  Excel- 
lency the  President  has  issued  his  proclamation, 
calling  upon  the  people  to  set  apart  Friday,  the  8th 
of  April,  as  a  day  of  fasting,  humiliation,  and 
prayer. 

"The  Commanding  General  invites  the  army  to 
join  in  the  observance  of  the  day.  He  directs  due 
preparations  to  be  made  in  all  departments,  to 
anticipate  the  wants  of  the  several  commands,  so 
that  it  may  be  strictly  observed.  All  military  du- 
ties, except  such  as  are  absolutely  necessary,  will  be 
suspended.  The  chaplains  are  desired  to  hold  ser- 
vices in  their  regiments  and  brigades.  The  officers 
and  men  are  requested  to  attend. 

"  Soldiers !  let  us  humble  ourselves  before  the 
Lord,  our  God,  asking,  through  Christ,  the  forgive- 
ness of  our  sins,  beseeching  the  aid  of  the  God  of 
our  forefathers  in  the  defence  of  our  homes  and 
our  liberties,  thanking  Him  for  his  past  blessings, 
and  imploring  their  continuance  upon  our  cause 
and  our  people. 

"  li.  E.  LEE,  General." 


1864.]  GENERAL  ROBERT   E.  LEE.  231 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

Grant  takes  Command   of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  —  His  Ad- 
vance —  The  Buttle  of  the  Wilderness  —  Longstreet  AVounded. 


long  winter  had  passed  away.  With  the 
-*-  early  spring  days  came  rumors  of  the  tremen- 
dous exertions  being  made  by  the  Northern  Gov- 
ernment for  the  approaching  campaign.  Supplies 
of  all  sorts  had  been  lavishly  distributed.  Heavy 
bounties  had  enabled  the  authorities  to  procure  re- 
cruits without  difficulty,  which,  with  the  draft,  had 
combined  to  swell  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  to  a 
total  of  a  hundred  and  forty  thousand  men.  The 
command  of  this  immense  force  had,  in  March, 
been  conferred  upon  Major-General  Grant,  an  offi- 
cer who  had  won  great  reputation  in  the  West. 
His  career  promised  to  be  more  successful  than  that 
of  his  predecessors,  as  he  was  personally  and  polit- 
ically acceptable  to  the  Administration;  and  being 
possessed  of  great  energy  and  perseverance,  he  had 
been  enabled  hitherto  to  attain  that  success  which 
is  with  the  multitude  the  test  of  genius. 

He  had  another  advantage  over  General  McClel- 
lan  and  others,  in  that  he  commanded  experienced 
veterans  instead  of  raw  recruits,  and  that  the  oppos- 
ing army  had  lost  strength,  and  was  no  longer  full 
of  the  prestige  of  success. 


232  A    POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1864. 

His  policy  was  to  destroy  his  adversary  by  "  con- 
tinuous hammering,"  rather  than  to  manoeuvre,  a 
policy  which  could  only  be  maintained  by  a  com- 
mander who  had  unlimited  means  to  draw  from, 
and  no  scruples  as  to  the  sacrifice  of  life  it  entailed. 

By  the  application  of  this  style  of  warfare  he 
hoped  to  wear  out,  by  "  attrition,"  the  opponent 
whose  superior  generalship  he  could  not  expect  to 
rival.* 

General  Lee  realized,  as  few  others  did,  the  mag- 
nitude of  the  odds  against  him.  His  whole  force 

O 

did  not  exceed  fifty  thousand  men,  and  he  could 
hope  for  no  reinforcements  until  the  last  of  May. 

The  gravity  and  importance  of  the  struggle  had 
impressed  itself  in  ever  deepening  lines  on  the 
minds  of  the  people. 

In  an  address  signed  by  the  "  wives,  daughters, 
sisters,  and  friends "  of  the  Confederate  soldiers, 
they  were  admonished  for  their  "  stricken  country's 
sake,"  to  be  true  to  themselves  and  their  "  glorious 
cause." 

Inspired  by  a  like  patriotism,  the  veterans  of  Lee 
made  ready  for  the  coming  battle. 

General  Lee's  army  occupied  a  strong  position, 
which  it  was  not  probable  the  enemy  would  attack 

*  "Lee's  army,"  said  a  Northern  writer,  referring  to  it  at  this 
time,  "is  an  army  of  veterans;  it  is  an  instrument  sharpened  to  a 
perfect  edge.  You  turn  its  Hank  ;  well,  its  flanks  are  made  to  be 
turned.  This  effects  little  or  nothing.  All  that  we  reckon  as  gained, 
therefore,  is  the  loss  of  life  inflicted  on  the  enemy." 


1864.]  GENERAL   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  233 

in  front.  His  right,  on  the  Rapidan  near  Somer- 
villo  Ford,  extended  along  the  river  for  three  miles, 
and  was  held  by  Ewell.  Hill's  troops  were  stretched 
out  on  either  Hide  of  Orange  Oourt-llousc.  The 
Confederate  left  was  at  Gordonsville  held  by  Long- 
street.  The  line  was  a  long  one,  but  the  army 
could  be  easily  concentrated  upon  any  threatened 
point. 

On  the  3d  of  May  the  Federal  army  moved  from 
its  encampment,  crossing  the  Rapidan  at  Ely's  and 
Qermanna  fords,  for  the  purpose  of  attacking  Lee's 
right  and  forcing  him  to  retreat  to  the  South  Anna. 

Finding  that  his  passage  of  the  river  had  not  been 
disputed,  General  Grant  supposed  that  General  Lee 
was  falling  back,  as  he  intended  he  should,  to  pre- 
serve his  communications.  Grant  then  hoped,  by 
masking  his  movements,  to  traverse  the  Wilderness 
and  give  battle  in  the  open  country  beyond.  But 
General  Lee  had  determined  not  to  retreat;  on  the 
contrary,  he  meant  to  make  Grant  fight  in  the  Wil- 
derness.* Swell's  and  Hill's  corps  were  moved 
forward,  the  one  by  the  turnpike,  the  other  by  the 
plank  road,  and  Longstreet  at  the  same  time  was 
ordered  to  march  from  Gordonsville,  on  the  right 

*  "  To  foil  his  adversary's  design  was  Lee's  first  aim.  The 
plan  he  formed  to  effect  this  is  one  of  the  boldest  and  most  skil- 
ful conceptions  of  that  officer.  Instead  of  falling  back,  on  finding 
his  nank  turned,  he  took  a  strategic  offensive,  directed  a  rapid 
concentration  of  his  forces  to  meet  Grant,  and  aimed  to  shut  Graat 
up  in  the  Wilderness." 
20* 


234  A   POPULAR   LIFE   OP  [1864. 

of  Ewell,  to  strike  the  front  of  the  enemy's  advanc- 
ing columns. 

Unaware  of  Lee's  designs,  Grant  made  his  prep- 
arations, and  the  Federal  troops  were  rapidly  pushed 
forward.  Warren,  who  was  in  the  advance,  march- 
ing by  the  Germanna  Road,  rested,  on  the  night  of 
the  4th,  within  three  miles  of  Ewell,  who,  in  ad- 
vance of  Hill,  had  reached  a  position  on  the  Orange 
Road  very  near  the  point  where  the  road  from  Ger- 
manna Ford  intersects  it. 

On  the  morning  of  the  5th  of  May,  the  Federal 
troops  prepared  to  continue  their  march,  but  were 
soon  made  aware  of  the  proximity  of  the  Confed- 
erates. General  Grant,  not  doubting  that  this  was 
the  rear-guard  of  Lee,  whom  he  supposed  in  full 
retreat,  threw  forward  three  divisions  to  clear  the 
road. 

The  ground  was  the  tangled  wilderness  which 
had  been  the  theatre  of  war  the  previous  spring, 
and  all  movements  were  necessarily  slow  and  diffi- 
cult. To  leave  the  roads  was  to  leave  behind  all 
visible  land-marks,  and  to  trust  to  the  compass 
alone  for  guidance.  So  thick  were  the  forests,  that 
it  was  impossible  for  a  regimental  commander  to 
see  the  whole  of  his  line  at  once.  The  Confeder- 
ates had  the  advantage  of  being  familiar  with  the 
country;  and  General  Lee  moreover  had  the  further 
advantage  of  what  position  there  was,  as  he  had 
chosen  the  field. 


1864.]  GENERAL    ROBERT    E.  LEE.  235 

About  noon,  the  assault  was  made.  At  the  in- 
tersection of  the  roads,  the  Federal  artillery  was 
planted,  and  poured  a  heavy  fire  into  the  Confeder- 
ate lines.  The  Federals  pressed  steadily  forward 
in  spite  of  a  sharp  musketry-fire  from  the  Confed- 
erates, and  succeeded  in  breaking  through  the  lines 
where  they  crossed  the  turnpike.  General  J.  M. 
Jones's  brigade,  which  held  this  position,  was  forced 
back  in  confusion,  and  their  gallant  commander  fell 
mortally  wounded  while  vainly  endeavoring  to  rally 
his  men.  At  this  moment  General  George  II. 
Steuart  moved  his  brigade  forward,  the  men  rushing 
with  cheers  into  the  gap,  pressed  back  the  Federals 
in  turn,  and  captured  their  guns,  liodes's  brigade 
was  now  ordered  forward  to  their  assistance. 

Gordon,  with  two  brigades,  charging  the  enemy 
on  the  right,  drove  them  in  confusion  a  distance  of 
a  mile  and  a  half,  capturing  a  whole  regiment  with 
their  officers. 

Somewhat  later,  an  attack  was  made  on  the  Con- 
federate left.  This  too  was  repulsed,  and  the 
enemy  driven  half  a  mile  or  more.  The  troops 
were  now  recalled  by  Ewell  to  their  original  line, 
to  await  the  arrival  of  A.  P.  Hill. 

At  one  time  during  the  day  General  Lee  was  in 
great  danger.  While  the  fighting  on  EwelFs  line 
was  going  on,  General  Hill  and  himself,  having  ar- 
rived in  advance  of  Hill's  troops,  were  standing  in 
conversation  in  a  somewhat  exposed  position.  A 


236  A   POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1864. 

Federal  scouting  party  came  within  two  hundred 
yards  of  them,  but,  alarmed  at  discovering  them- 
selves in  the  Southern  lines,  retired  in  haste  with- 
out firing  a  shot. 

Communications  were  opened  with  Ewell  as  soon 
as  Hill's  lines  were  formed.  The  troops  extending 
through  the  woods  covered  the  two  roads  —  the 
Orange  Plank  Road  and  Old  Turnpike.  The  Federal 
army  occupied  the  thicket  in  front,  Hancock's  lines 
extending  along  the  Brock  lload  in  a  southerly  di- 
rection. 

Grant  being  now  fully  aware  that  he  had  before 
him  the  entire  army  of  Lee,  instead  of  the  small 
force  that  he  had  at  first  supposed,  ordered  a  gen- 
eral attack  at  four  o'clock. 

Hill  met  the  troops  of  Hancock  with  a  well  di- 
rected fire,  and  stubbornly  resisted  all  the  efforts  of 
the  Federal  masses  to  break  through  his  lines. 

"  The  assaults,"  in  General  Lee's  words,  "  were 
repeated  and  desperate,  but  every  one  was  repulsed." 

At  nightfall  the  attack  terminated.  The  Con- 
federates had  been  successful  at  every  point;  but 
the  great  battle  was  to  come. 

At  five  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  6th,  General 
Longstreet  came  up.  He  had  arrived  within  ten 
miles  of  the  battle-field  on  the  evening  before,  but 
owing  to  the  thick  woods  intervening,  did  not  hear 
the  firing,  and  was  unaware  of  the  engagement. 

General  Lee  had  determined  to  assume  the  often- 


1864.]  GENERAL   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  237 

sivo,  and  was  only  waiting  for  his  "  old  war-horse," 
as  lie  termed  Longstreet,  to  relieve  Hill,  and  to 
open  the  battle.  But  before  this  could  be  effected, 
General  Grant,  who  had  also  resolved  to  attack, 
threw  a  heavy  force  upon  Hill's  front,  just  as  the 
troops  were  falling  back  to  give  place  to  Long- 
street's  corps.  They  were  thus  taken  at  a  disadvan- 
tage, and  were  pressed  back  within  a  few  hundred 
yards  of  General  Lee's  headquarters.  Longstreet 
formed  his  line  as  promptly  as  possible,  threw  for- 
ward Kcrshaw's  division  to  stem  the  enemy's  ad- 
vance, and  at  length  bringing  up  his  whole  corps, 
after  a  severe  contest,  succeeded  in  driving  them 
back  and  regaining  Hill's  former  position.  This 
was  only  accomplished  after  long  and  heavy  fight- 
ing, as  Grant  had  massed  his  best  troops  for  this 
charge,  confident  of  breaking  through  Lee's  line. 
But  for  the  timely  arrival  of  Longstreet,  he  might 
have  achieved  his  purpose. 

At  eleven  o'clock,  General  Lee,  having  frustrated 
Grant's  design,  prepared  to  put  into  execution  his 
own  plan  of  a  flank  movement  against  the  enemy's 
left.  His  object  was  to  seize  the  Brock  Road, 
which  would  shut  Grant  up  in  the  Wilderness,  and 
force  him  to  retreat  to  the  Rapidan. 

Longstreet,  with  a  few  select  brigades,  had  charge 
of  this  movement.  Pressing  impetuously  forward, 
he  drove  the  enemy  in  confusion  before  him,  bend- 
ing back  his  line  upon  itself,  routing  whole  divi- 


238  A   POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1864. 

sions,  and  seemed  just  about  to  grasp  the  object  of 
his  wishes.  As  he  spurred  forward  to  lead  hia 
troops  in  person  to  the  crowning  achievement,  he 
was  halted  by  General  Jenkins,  of  South  Carolina, 
for  some  words  of  complimentary  greeting.  At 
this  moment  they  were  fired  upon  by  some  of  his 
own  troops,  concealed  in  the  bushes,  who  mistook 
them  for  a  party  of  the  flying  foe.  Too  late  they 
discovered  their  mistake ;  the  well-directed  fire  had 
done  its  fatal  work.  General  Jenkins  fell  dead, 
and  Longstreet  was  borne  to  the  rear,  with  a  bullet- 
hole  in  his  throat,  the  ball  having  passed  out 
through  his  right  shoulder.  The  wound  was  not 
mortal,  but  it  had  disabled  him  at  a  critical  mo- 
ment. 

A  second  time  in  the  thickets  of  the  Wilderness 
had  Lee's  right  hand  been  struck  down  by  a  Confed- 
erate bullet,  just  in  the  crisis  of  a  great  design.  It 
was,  at  least,  a  singular  coincidence. 

The  delay  occasioned  by  this  unfortunate  acci- 
dent gave  the  enemy  the  opportunity  they  desired. 
Heavy  reinforcements  were  hurried  to  the  threat- 
ened point,  and  the  Brock  Road  was  strongly 
guarded.  At  length,  when  General  Lee  was  ready 
to  renew  the  charge,  the  troops  that  had  given  way 
before  Longstreet  were  replaced  by  fresh  masses. 

For  an  hour  they  resisted  stubbornly  the  Confed- 
erate attack,  but  the  latter  finally  prevailed.  The 
Federal  troops  were  driven  back  upon  their  log 


1864.]  GENERAL    KOBEJIT   E.LEE.  239 

breastworks.  These  at  the  same  time  taking  fire, 
the  scene  became  one  of  unexampled  grandeur 
and  fury. 

The  Confederates  planted  their  colors  upon  the 
enemy's  position,  many  of  the  Federal  troops  hav- 
ing retreated  as  far  as  Chancellorsville.  A  portion 
of  Hancock's  force  afterwards  rallied  and  regained 
possession  of  their  abandoned  breastworks,  when 
darkness  soon  afterwards  terminated  the  contest. 

General  Ewell,  on  the  left,  after  repeatedly  re- 
pelling the  attacks  of  Sedgwick,  at  length  or- 
dered General  Gordon  to  assail  the  Federal  line. 
He  drove  them  in  confusion  for  a  distance  of 
two  miles,  capturing  Brigadier-Generals  Seymour 
and  Shales,  with  a  greater  portion  of  their  com- 
mands. But  the  tangled  undergrowth  impeded 
his  progress,  and  in  the  gathering  twilight,  becom- 
ing separated  from  his  supports,  he  was  forced 
to  return.  With  a  larger  command  this  brilliant 
exploit  would,  doubtless,  have  resulted  in  the  entire 
rout  of  the  Federal  right  wing. 

The  losses  in  the  battles  of  the  Wilderness  were, 
on  the  Confederate  side,  one  thousand  killed  and 
six  thousand  wounded,  making  a  total  of  seven 
thousand.  The  Federal  loss  greatly  exceeded  this, 
amounting  in  all,  killed,  wounded,  and  captured, 
to  tioenty  thousand  men. 


240  A    POPULAR    LIFE   OF  [1864. 


CHATTER   XXIV. 

"By  the  left  Flank"  —  The  Battles  sit  Spottsylvunia  Court-House 
—  Sheridan's  Raid  —  Deatii  of  Stuart. 

ON  the  following  clay,  May  7th,  General  Grant 
took  up  his  march  for  Spottsylvania  Court- 
House.  lie  had  become  convinced  that  it  was  im- 
possible to  drive  General  Lee  from  his  front;  yet, 
though  foiled  in  his  first  plan,  he  still  hoped  to  place 
himself  between  Lee  and  Richmond. 

The  latter,  Lee,  had  divined  this  movement,  and 
that  night  General  Anderson,  who  commanded 
Longstreet's  corps,  was  ordered  to  march  to  the 
Court-House,  where  it  was  soon  followed  by  the  rest 
of  the  army. 

Warren's  corps,  forming  the  advance  of  the 
Federal  troops,  was  checked  and  impeded  in  its 
progress  by  Fitz-Lee's  cavalry.  Supposing  Long- 
street's  men  to  be  a  portion  of  the  dismounted  cav- 
alry, his  column  pushed  on,  when  a  heavy  fire  from 
the  Confederate  line  caused  them  to  recoil  in  con- 
fusion. Another  attempt  was  made,  after  the  whole 
corps  had  come  up,  to  break  through  the  Confed- 
erate line,  but  without  success. 

Later  in  the  evening  the  6th  corps  arrived ;  and 
attacking  Ewell  before  he  had  brought  up  his  whole 
line,  drove  him  back  a  short  distance,  capturing 


1864.]  GENERAL    ROBERT    E.   I,  E  E .  241 

some  of  his  men,  but  suffering  more  loss  than  they 
inflicted. 

On  the  morning  of  the  9th,  both  armies  were  con- 
centrated, the  Confederates  on  the  south  bank  of 
the  river  Po,  enclosing  in  their  lines  Spottsylvania 
Court-House ;  the  Federals  on  the  north  bank  of 
the  river. 

General  Grant  had  been  a  second  time  out-gen- 
eralled.  Though  both  armies  inarched  by  roads  of 
nearly  equal  length,  General  Lee  had  succeeded  in 
gaining  the  position  his  adversary  coveted.  Grant 
had  only  the  alternative  of  fighting  him  where  he 
was,  or  marching  on  further  by  the  left  flank  to 
"  manoeuvre "  him  into  abandoning  his  position. 
But  as  his  policy  was  "  never  to  manoeuvre,"  he 
prepared  to  give  battle. 

General  Lee  had  thrown  up  earthworks,  and  was 
protected  also  by  the  dense  undergrowth.  His 
right,  occupied  by  Longstreet's  corps,  extended 
from  the  river  towards  the  Court-House  in  a  north- 
erly  direction.  Ewell  held  the  centre,  and  Hill  the 
left. 

Hancock  held  the  right  of  the  Federal  line, 
Warren  the  centre,  and  Burnside  the  left. 

On  the  evening  of  the  9th,  Hancock  was  sent 
across  the  river  to  intercept  some  Confederate 
wago  n -trains,  but  darkness  coining  on,  they  reached 
the  protection  of  the  Southern  line  unobserved. 
While  rccrossing  his  command,  May  10th,  one  of 
21  <! 


242  A    POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1864. 

Hancock's  divisions  was  assailed  by  a  portion  of 
Hill's  corps,  and  driven  some  distance,  losing  hea- 
vily, but  at  length  regaining  its  position. 

At  the  same  time,  General  Warren  made  an  at- 
tack upon  the  division  of  General  Field,  belonging 
to  Longstreet's  corps,  and  was  driven  back  after 
twelve  assaults.* 

Hancock  uniting  with  Warren  at  five  o'clock,  the 
attack  was  renewed,  and  the  fighting  became  heavy 
and  desperate.  At  length  the  Federal  troops  had 
gained  the  breastworks  on  the  extreme  left,  but 
they  did  not  hold  them  long.  The  Confederates 
dislodged  and  drove  them  back,  repelling  another 
charge  made  just  before  nightfall  with  equal  gal- 
lantry. This  ended  the  attack  on  the  Confederate 
left. 

The  Oth  corps  assailed  Evvell's  left,  succeeded  in 
breaking  through  the  divisions  of  General  Rodes, 
and  captured  nine  hundred  of  his  men,  with  six 
pieces  of  artillery.  But  Rodes  finally  recovered  his 
line,  driving  the  enemy  back  and  recapturing  his 
guns. 

*  "The  men  struggled  bravely  against  an  impossible  task,  and 
even  entered  the  enemy's  breastworks  at  one  or  two  points;  but 
they  soon  wavered  and  fell  back  in  confusion  and  great  slaughter. 
Notwithstanding  the  disastrous  upshot  of  this  assault,  the  experi- 
ence of  which  had  taught  the  troops  that  the  work  assigned  them 
was  really  hopeless,  a  second  charge  was  ordered  an  hour  after 
the  failure  of  the  first.  The  repulse  of  this  was  even  more  com- 
plete than  that  of  the  former  effort  ;  and  the  lows  in  the  two  at- 
tacks  was  between  five  and  six  thousand,  while  it  is  doubtful 
whether  the  enemy  lost  us  many  hundreds."  —  Swinton. 


1864.]  GENERAL    ROBERT    E.  LEE.  243 

This  affair,  simultaneous  with  the  combined  at- 
tack on  Hill,  closed  the  day's  engagement. 

Hitherto,  Grant's  principal  efforts  having  been 
directed  toward  General  Lee's  left,  the  latter  with- 
drew his  forces  from  other  points  to  strengthen 
what  seemed  likely  to  he  the  main  point  of  attack. 

But  General  Grant  had  discovered  the  centre  to 
he  the  most  assailable  part  of  the  line.  Here  pro- 
jected a  portion  of  the  works  forming  what  was 
called  the  "  Horse  Shoe."  It  was  a  salient  thrown 
out  to  protect  a  hill  in  front,  in  order  to  keep  the 
enemy  from  occupying  it  with  their  artillery. 

The  whole  of  the  llth  was  spent  by  General 
Grant  in  disposing  his  troops  for  an  assault  on  this 
point.  Hancock's  corps  was  to  make  the  attack, 
supported  by  the  remainder  of  the  army. 

By  daybreak  on  the  morning  of  the  12th  the 
attack  commenced.  Through  some  misapprehen- 
sion of  orders,  the  artillery  had  been  removed  the 
night  before,  and  the  Confederate  infantry,  General 
Edward  Johnson's  division,  received  unsupported 
the  charge  of  the  assailing  column. 

They  resisted  with  desperate  bravery,  struggling 
hand-to-hand  in  the  trenches.  The  contest  was 
fierce  but  of  short  duration.  The  cheers  of  the 
enemy  soon  proclaimed  that  they  had  accomplished 
their  object.  Before  Johnson  could  be  reinforced, 
the  Horse  Shoe  was  in  possession  of  the  assailants. 
General  Johnson,  with  over  three  thousand  of  his 


244 


A    POPULAR    LIFE   OF 


[1864. 


men,  was  captured,  together  with  twenty-five  guns, 
hurried  to  the  spot  too  late  to  be  of  use. 

Pressing  on,  Hancock  was  now  confident  of 
breaking  through  the  whole  line  and  driving  apart 
the  two  wings  of  Lee's  army;  but  Ewell  had 
promptly  thrown  forward  the  remainder  of  his 
corps,  and  the  advance  of  the  Federal  force  was 
stayed.  Grant  now  ordered  an  attack  on  the  Con- 
federate right  and  left,  thinking  Lee  must  have 
greatly  weakened  them  to  meet  with  such  firmness 
the  formidable  assault  of  his  troops  in  their  front. 
But  at  these  points  also  the  charge  was  met  and 
repelled  with  vigor. 


"LEE  TO  THE  REAR." 


1864.]  GENERAL    KOBE  UT    E.  LEE.  245 

The  battle  lasted  through  the  entire  day.  At 
night  General  Lee,  though  he  had  not  been  able  to 
recover  the  position  lost  from  Johnson,  had  resisted 
every  attempt  to  break  through  his  interior  line, 
and  Grant  was  forced  to  acknowledge  that  the  ad- 
vantage gained  did  not  prove  decisive.* 

*  A  remarkable  incident  occurred  in  the  battles  around  Spott- 
sylvariia  Court-Hotise,  which  is  narrated  in  the  following  corre- 
spondence : 

"  ANNAPOLIS,  Dec.  4,  1865. 

"Mr  DEAR  SIR: —  Our  acquaintance  in  former  years  was  so 
slight  that  I  hardly  feel  justified  in  taking  the  liberty  of  address- 
ing a  letter  to  you.  Still  I  will  venture  to  do  so,  that  I  may  make 
inquiry  about  the  truth  of  an  incident,  an  account  of  which  was 
published  during  the  war,  and  which  impressed  me  more  at  the 
time  than  any  of  the  numerous  and  touching  events  of  that  period. 

"It  was  stated  in  substance  that  during  the  battle  of  the  Wil- 
derness, or  of  Spottsylvania,  in  the  early  part  of  the  engagement, 
the  Confederates  were  unable  to  resist  the  advance  of  the  Federal 
forces,  and  were  compelled  to  fall  buck.  Regarding  the  conse- 
quences of  a  disaster  at  this  juncture  of  affairs  as  so  important 
and  fatal,  you  ordered  either  General  Gregg  or  General  Gordon 
to  check  this  advance,  declaring,  in  the  presence  of  your  men, 
your  purpose  to  lead  the  movement  in  person.  The  line  was  ac- 
cordingly immediately  formed  for  this  purpose,  and  was  about  to 
advance  upon  the  opposing  enemy,  when,  as  the  account  went,  a 
grim,  ragged  private,  from  the  ranks  of  a  Texas  regiment,  stepped  in 
front,  and,  in  an  earnest  and  determined  manner,  protested  against 
such  an  act  on  your  part,  and  declared  his  unwillingness  to  move 
an  inch  until  you  should  retire  to  your  proper  position  in  the 
rear,  promising,  at  the  same  time,  if  you  did  so,  to  repulse  your 
enemy  at  all  hazards ;  and  that  thereupon  the  whole  line  assumed 
the  sume  attitude,  and  you  were  thus  virtually  forced  to  retire, 
but  only  to  witness,  in  a  few  moments  afterwards,  the  triumphant 
fulfilment  of  the  promise  in  the  complete  discomfiture  of  your 
enemy. 

"This  account  first  appeared  in  an  English  paper,  and,  strange 
to  say,  was  republished,  as  far  as  my  knowledge  goes,  in  only  one 
of  our  papers  (the  New  York  Sun),  and  which,  unfortunately,  I 
did  not  preserve,  and  therefore  am  unable  to  send  you  the  account 
itself. 

"  May  I  take  the  liberty  of  asking  whether  this  account  be  true 

21* 


21G  A    POl'UJ-AIi    LIFE   OF  [1861. 

TJie  losses  in  this  engagement  amounted,  on  the 
Confederate  side,  to  only  seven  thousand,  while  the 
enemy's  had  been  eighteen  thousand. 

"  Thus,"  says  a  Southern  historian,  "  without 
decisive  results  —  certainly  without  any  appreciable 
advantage  on  the  Northern  side  —  had  been  fought 
a  series  of  battles  such  as  had  never  been  com- 
pressed into  so  many  days  in  the  history  of  man, 
and  such  as  had  never  before  been  exhibited  by  a 
single  army  contending  against  an  adversary  more 
than  three  times  its  numbers."  * 

in  whole  or  in  part,  in  order  that,  if  true,  I  may  preserve  to  his- 
tory your  own  version  of  one  of  the  most  striking  and  impressive 
incident*,  in  my  judgment,  of  the  war  —  one,  more  than  all  others, 
which  exemplifies  the  spirit  and  genius  of  the  Southern  people  in 
the  great  struggle  through  which  they  passed. 

"  At  your  leisure  I  should  be  very  glad  to  hear  from  you,  and 
beg  to  subscribe  myself,  with  great  respect, 

••  Your  friend  and  obedient  servant, 

"JonN  THOMSON  MASON." 

"  General  Kui'.i.in    K.    LI-;K." 

(ANSWER.) 

"  LEXIMJTON  ,  VA.,  Dec.  7,  180;"). 

"  MY  I»KAK  SIR: —  1  regret  that  my  occupations  are  such  as  to 
prevent  me  from  writing  at  present  a  narrative  of  the  event  which 
you  request  in  your  letter  of  the  4th  instant. 

"The  account  you  give  is  substantially  correct.  General  Gor- 
don was  the  officer.  It  occurred  in  the  battles  around  Spottsyl- 
vania  Court- House. 

'•  With  great  respect,  your  friend  and  servant, 

-  R.  E.  LKK." 

'•  Hon.  JOHN  THOMSON  MASON." 

*  An  eloquent  Northern  historian  says:  "Of  all  the  struggles 
of  the  war  this  was,  perhaps,  the  fiercest  and  most  deadly.  Fre- 
quently, throughout  the  conflict,  so  close  was  the  contest  that  the 
rival  standards  were  planted  on  opposite  sides  of  the  breastworks. 
The  enemy's  most  savage  sallies  were  directed  to  retake  the  famous 


1864.]  GENE  H  A  L    U U  H  E  11 T    E  .LEE.  247 

General  Grant  now  called  lor  reinforcement*,  and 
while  awaiting  them,  remained  a  week  in  front  of 
Lee,  looking  tor  a  weak  point  in  his  adversary's 
firm  lines,  an  unguarded  pause  in  his  vigilant  watch, 
to  see  if  it  were  possible  to  risk  another  blow. 

At  the  end  of  that  time  he  had  decided  to  march 
(o  the  Chickahominy,  reaching  "  by  a  monstrous 
circuit,"  (strewn  with  battle-fields,  which  had  cost 
him  an  army  in  itself,  forty  thousand  men,)  "  a 
point  where,  ascending  the  waters  of  Virginia,  he 
might  have  landed  at  the  very  beginning  of  the 
campaign  without  loss  or  opposition." 

In  connection  with  the  movement  upon  Spottsyl- 
vania  Court-IIouse  had  occurred  a  raid  by  Sheri- 
dan's cavalry  toward  Richmond. 

Crossing  the  South  Anna  River,  they  destroyed 
the  railroad,  and  were  about  to  burn  Ashland  when 
Stuart  came  up.  On  the  10th  of  May,  at  Yellow 
Tavern,  near  Ashland,  a  fight  occurred,  and  the 
great  cavalry  leader  was  mortally  wounded  *•  while 
leading  his  men  to  the  charge. 

salient,  which  was  now  become  an  angle  of  death,  and  presented 
a  spectacle  ghastly  and  terrible.  On  the  Confederate  side  of  the 
works  lay  many  corpses  of  those  who  had  been  bayoneted  by 
Hancock's  men  when  they  first  leaped  the  intrenchments.  To 
these  were  constantly  added  the  bravest  of  those  who,  in  the 
assaults  to  recapture  the  position,  fell  at  the  margin  of  the  works, 
till  the  ground  was  literally  covered  with  piles  of  dead,  and  the 
woods  in  front  of  the  salient  were  one  hideous  Golgotha." 

*  He  died  on  the  same  day  of  the  same  month  with  Stonewall 
Jackson. 


248  A  POPULAR  LIFE  OF  [1864. 

Stuart  had  been  called  the  Prince  Rupert  of  the 
South.  Fond  of  adventure,  and  full  of  reckless  dar- 
ing, he  was  yet  the  true  cavalier  in  every  gentle  and 
chivalric  virtue,  of  a  blameless  life  and  unaffected 
piety,  and  possessing  a  military  genius  unsurpassed 
in  his  own  branch  of  the  service,  he  stands  with 
Lee  and  Jackson  in  the  great  triumvirate  of  Vir- 
ginian heroes. 


CHAPTER   XXV. 

Skirmishing  on  the  North  Annn  —  On  to  the  Chickahominy  —  The 
Second  Battle  of  Cold  Harbor. 

ON  the  23d  of  May,  General  Grant  arriving  at 
the  North  Anna  River,  found  Lee  again  con- 
fronting him.  He  had  marched  by  a  shorter  route 
from  the  Court-House,  as  soon  as  it  was  evident  that 
Grant  designed  moving  in  this  direction,  and  was 
now  established  in  a  very  strong  position. 

Two  miles  back  of  the  river  lay  Hanover  Junc- 
tion, where  the  Fredericksburg  and  Richmond,  and 
the  Virginia  Central  railroads  intersected. 

General  Lee's  right  extended  to  Hanover  Junc- 
tion, his  left  to  Little  River.  His  centre  was  at 
Oxford  Mills,  close  to  the  river;  the  two  wings 
thrown  back,  gave  to  his  line  the  form  of  the  two 


1864.]  GENERAL   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  249 

sides  of  an  equilateral  triangle.  Both  flanks  were 
protected  by  marshes,  and  also  strongly  intrenched. 

General  Grant  resolved  to  cross  his  two  wings, 
thinking  by  this  movement  to  compel  his  adversary 
to  leave  the  river.  His  right,  under  Warren,  was 
ordered  to  make  the  passage  at  Jericho  Ford ;  and 
Hancock,  on  the  left,  had  instructions  to  cross  at 
the  Telegraph  bridge,  about  six  miles  from  the 
former  point.  The  Telegraph  bridge  was  guarded 
by  a  small  force,  which  ottered  but  slight  resistance. 
At  Jericho  Ford  there  was  no  guard  ;  but  after 
Warren  had  crossed,  he  was  met  by  A.  P.  Hill  be- 
fore reaching  the  Central  railroad,  and  his  advance 
checked.  Grant  had  been  suffered  to  accomplish 
his  object.  His  two  army  corps  were  on  the  south 
side  of  the  river;  but  General  Lee  showed  no  dis- 
position to  retire.  He  had  planned  his  position 
with  consummate  skill.  Grant  was  lured  over  the 
river  only  to  find  himself  in  a  trap.  His  two  wings 
were  separated,  cut  off"  from  all  communications 
south  of  the  river,  and  should  the  Confederates 
mass  their  forces  for  an  attack  on  either  the  right 
or  left,  the  other  would  be  totally  powerless  to  ren- 
der any  assistance.* 

To  extricate  himself  from  this  dangerous  situa- 
tion, General  Grant  ordered  General  Burnside  to 
make  an  attack  upon  Lee's  centre,  and  drive  him 

*A  Northern  historian  says:  "The  game  of  war  seldom  pre- 
sents a  more  effectual  checkmate  than  was  here  given  by  Lee." 


250  A    POPULAR    LIFE   O  F  [1864. 

back.  lie  succeeded  in  crossing  one  division  at 
Oxford  Mills,  but  they  met  with  such  a  rough  re- 
ception, that  it  was  speedily  withdrawn.  An  at- 
tempt made  by  Warren  to  communicate  with  Burn- 
wide  resulted  in  similar  discomfiture. 

Failing  in  these  efforts,  he  prudently  resolved  to 
recross  his  troops,  withdraw  from  the  North  Anna, 
and  continue  his  Hanking  march. 

General  Lee  was  indeed  master  of  the  situation. 
If  he  had  been  strong  enough  to  assume  the  offen- 
sive, he  might  have  made  it  no  easy  matter  for 
Grant  to  resume  his  former  position. 

But  returning  unmolested  to  the  north  bank  of 
the  river,  General  Grant  pushed  on  to  the  Pa- 
rnunkey,  where  he  would  have  but  a  short  march  to 
the  Chickahominy,  which,  if  he  could  place  between 
himself  and  Lee,  would  put  Richmond  within  his 
grasp. 

On  the  -28th  the  Federal  army  had  arrived  at 
Hanovertown,  where  they  made  the  passage  of  the 
Pamunkey. 

But  Lee,  prompt  to  forestall  his  adversary's  plans, 
as  soon  as  it  was  known  that  the  Federal  army  had 
marched  to  the  Pamunkey,  ordered  Ewell  forward 
to  intercept  their  advance  to  the  Chickahominy, 
and  soon  concentrating  all  his  forces  on  the  banks 
of  the  Tottapotomoi,  prepared  to  contest  their 
further  progress.  Sheridan,  in  the  meanwhile,  in 
command  of  the  Federal  cavalry,  had  been  sent  to 


1864.]  GENERAL    ROBERT    E.  LEE.  251 

destroy  the  Central  Railroad.  lie  was  met  by  Fitz 
Lee  and  driven  to  liis  supports,  when  the  latter  fell 
back  toward  Richmond. 

Several  days  of  skirmishing  and  manoeuvring  for 
position  preceded  the  great  struggle,  which  was  to 
take  place  on  the  old  battle-field  of  '62,  and  to  be 
known  as  the  "  Second  Battle,  of  Cold  Harbor" 

Both  armies  had  been  reinforced.  Grant  by  six- 
teen thousand  men  from  Butler's  force  on  the  Pen- 
insula; Lee  by  Breckinridge  with  two  thousand 
men,  and  the  divisions  of  Iloke  and  Piekett,  mak- 
ing his  whole  force  about  forty-four  thousand  men. 
General  Lee,  profiting  by  his  previous  knowledge 
of  the  ground,  gained  in  the  campaign  of  1862,  was 
careful  to  secure  good  positions  for  his  troops. 

On  the  2d  of  June  both  armies  were  in  line  of 
battle.  The  Confederates  held  the  ground  occupied 
by  McClellan  in  '62,  the  Federals  the  old  line  of  the 
Confederates.  Lee's  left  under  Ewell  was  at  Atlee's 
Station  ;  his  right  under  Breckinridge,  with  a  part 
of  Hill's  corps,  held  the  Cold  Harbor  ridge. 

At  dawn  on  the  morning  of  the  3d,  Grant  opened 
the  attack  with  a  charge  along  the  whole  line. 
Hancock  assailed  Breckinridge  on  the  Confederate 
right,  and  succeeded  in  driving  him  from  a  salient 
in  his  line,  capturing  a  number  of  prisoners  and 
several  guns.  But  immediately  rallying,  Breckin- 
ridge soon  re-established  his  line.  The  Florida 
brigade  and  Maryland  battalion  contending  with 


252  A    POPULAR    LIFE   OF  [1864. 

the  enenvy  in  a  desperate  encounter,  drove  them 
back  after  a  short  struggle  from  the  works  they 
had  gained.  Seven  times  in  the  short  space  of 
thirty  minutes  the  attack  was  renewed,  and  each 
time  Hancock  was  repulsed  with  heavy  loss. 

Ewell,  on  the  left,  was  attacked  by  Warren  and 
Burnside,  but  with  little  vigor,  and  easily  repulsed 
the  enemy. 

The  contest  had  been  decided  in  half  an  hour, 
between  the  hours  of  eleven  and  twelve.*  The 
Southern  loss  was  not  quite  twelve  hundred;  the 
Federal  loss  had  been  something  terrible,  not  less 
than  thirteen  thousand  men. 

This  enormous  disproportion  was  in  a  measure 
due  to  the  fact  that  the  Confederates  fought  behind 
breastworks. 

In  the  afternoon,  General  Of  rant,  wishing  to  renew 
the  attack,  gave  orders  to  the  corps  commanders  to 
be  transmitted  to  their  subordinates  ;  but  when  the 
orders  reached  the  men,  they  refused  to  advance. 

They  felt  that  they  were  called  upon  for  a  useless 
sacrifice  of  life.  "No  man  stirred,  and  the  immo- 
bile lines  pronounced  a  verdict,  silent,  yet  emphatic, 

*"It  took  hardly  more  than  ten  minutes  of  the  figment  men 
call  time  to  decide  the  battle.  There  was  along  the  whole  line  n 
rush  —  the  spectacle  of  impregnable  works  —  a  bloody  loss  —  then 
a  sullen  fulling  buck,  and  the  action  was  decided. 

"  The  troops  went  forward  'as  far  as  the  example  of  their  offi- 
cers could  carry  them,'  nor  was  it  possible  to  urge  them  beyond  : 
for  there  they  know  lay  only  death,  without  even  n  chance  of  vic- 
tory."—  SWINTON  :  Ariiifj  of  (hr  I'otoniaf. 


1864.]  GENERAL   ROBERT   E.LEE.  253 

against  further  slaughter."  The  battle  had  heen 
decisive,  and  with  it  closed  the  overland  campaign. 
On  the  6th  General  Grant  had  determined  to  retire 
south  of  the  James,  and  besiege  Richmond  from 
this  direction. 

He  had  been  foiled  in  every  successive  attack  by 
his  wary  antagonist,  and  had  proved  by  the  rcductio 
ad  absurdum  argument,  as  Swinton  observes,  the 
futility  of  the  "  hammering  "  mode  of  warfare  un- 
accompanied by  manoeuvring.  Lee's  successes  were 
the  triumphs  of  military  art  over  brute  force.  Tac- 
tical skill,  which  availed  him  so  well  in  this  cam- 
paign against  the  pressure  of  mere  numbers,  when, 
as  at  Cold  Harbor,  "  the  army  of  the  Potomac  lost 
at  least  twenty  men  to  Lee's  one,"  was  yet  to 
achieve  much  in  the  new  field  of  operations.  It 
was  competent  for  great  results,  as  the  prolonged 
and  skilful  defence  of  Petersburg  was  to  testify. 
That  it  was  invincible,  when  all  other  supports 
failed,  when  forbidden  to  shift  his  quarters,  but  at 
bay  behind  breastworks,  with  the  encircling  legions 
of  "the  Hammerer"  fast  closing  in  upon  his  com- 
munications, he  knew  was  a  fatal  delusion.  But 
the  Confederacy  believed  otherwise ;  they  had  the 
most  implicit  faith  that  all  was  safe  as  long  as  he 
was  in  command  of  the  army.  Accustomed  to  see 
him  succeed  with  small  means  in  foiling  his  ene- 
mies, they  forgot  he  was  mortal  and  could  not  always 

command  success,  however  he  might  deserve  it. 
22 


254  A    POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1864. 


CHAPTER   XXVI. 

Operations  in  the  Valley  —  Hunter's  Raid  —  His  Cruelty  —  But- 
ler's Advance  from  Bermuda  Hundreds — Battle  of  Drewry's 
Bluff — Grant  crosses  the  James  —  Attempt  to  take  Petersburg 
by  Surprise  —  Commencement  of  the  Siege. 

THE  programme  of  General  Grant,  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  spring  campaign,  had  em- 
braced two  other  movements,  in  connection  with 
the  advance  of  the  main  army ;  the  one  having  for 
its  object  the  capture  of  Lynchburg  in  southwest- 
ern Virginia,  the  other,  under  Butler,  looking  to 
co-operation  with  Grant  from  the  Peninsula. 

In  May,  Sigel  had  been  defeated  at  New  Market 
by  General  Breckinridge,  but  the  latter  was  soon 
afterwards  recalled  to  General  Lee's  army,  leaving 
the  forces  of  Hunter,  who  had  succeeded  Sigel, 
Avitli  only  the  small  command  of  General  Win.  E. 
Jones  to  oppose  their  progress. 

On  the  5th  of  June  he  was  met  at  Piedmont  by 
the  Confederates,  who  were  overpowered  by  supe- 
rior numbers.  The  gallant  General  Jones  lost  his 
life  while  cheering  on  his  men,  and  half  of  his 
small  force  were  made  prisoners. 

Continuing  his  inarch,  Hunter  passed  through 
Lexington,  setting  fire  to  the  Military  Institute 
and  the  dwelling  of  ex-governor  Letcher. 

On  the  16th,  he  had  reached  Lynchburg.     His 


1864.]         GENERAL   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  255 

march  was  marked  by  ruin  and  outrage,  lighted  by 
the  glare  of  burning  houses.  As  he  had  declared, 
he  warred  upon  the  women  *  of  Virginia,  so  he 
spared  no  opportunity  of  laying  waste  their  home- 
steads, and  destroying  their  means  of  subsistence. 

General  Lee  lost  no  time  in  sending  a  portion  of 
his  army  to  the  relief  of  Lynchburg.  E  well's  corps, 
under  the  command  of  General  Early,  was  detached 
for  this  service.  Before  Hunter  had  completed  his 
preparations  for  assault,  Early  had  arrived  with  a 
portion  of  his  corps.  The  attack  was  made  on  the 
18th,  and  repulsed.  The  remainder  of  the  Confed- 
erate troops  arriving,  an  advance  upon  Hunter  en- 
sued, and  the  latter  was  soon  in  full  retreat.  Early 
captured  thirteen  pieces  of  artillery  and  took  a  good 
many  prisoners,  forcing  Hunter  to  retreat  by  a 
circuitous  route,  which  left  open  the  Valley,  thus 
enabling  Early  to  pass  into  Maryland. 

The  greatest  damage  done  by  Hunter  was  the 
destruction  of  the  Virginia  and  Tennessee  Railroad 

*When  in  the  Roanoke  Valley,  he  went  with  two  soldiers  to 
burn  the  house  of  a  lady,  whose  crime  was  that  she  had  harbored 
a  Southern  soldier.  She  pleaded  for  her  children  and  herself, 
who  would  thus  be  left  without  protection  and  without  shelter. 
"General,"  she  said,  "you  do  not  war  against  women?"  "It  is 
the  very  thing  I  came  to  do,  Madam.  I  intend  (o  make  the  iromen 
feel  this  war.  They  are  instigating  and  encouraging  the  men  in 
'rebellion,'  and  Ihnj  shall  suffer  too."  He  then  rode  off,  leaving 
the  two  men  to  carry  out  his  orders;  but  the  soldiers,  more 
humane  than  their  general,  and  moved  by  the  tears  of  the  poor 
lady,  spared  the  house.  This  anecdote  is  given  by  a  lady  who 
was  present  at  the  time,  and  several  others  testify  to  his  having 
used  the  same  language  to  them  in  similar  circumstances. 


256  A   POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1864. 

for  the  distance  of  a  hundred  and  thirty-five  miles, 
but  it  was  repaired  in  sixty  days. 

On  the  south  side,  Butler,  early  in  May,  bring- 
ing up  his  troops  from  York  River,  landed  at  City 
Point,  and  threw  up  fortifications  near  Bermuda 
Hundreds. 

The  country  between  the  Appomattox  and  the 
James  was  at  this  time  very  poorly  defended. 
Petersburg  contained  but  one  regiment,  and  Drew* 
ry's  Bluff  was  garrisoned  by  a  very  small  force. 

As  soon  as  the  Confederate  Government  was 
made  aware  that  active  operations  might  be  ex- 
pected in  this  quarter,  measures  were  taken  for  its 
protection.  General  Beauregard  was  put  in  com- 
mand of  the  defences  of  the  south  side.  With  him 
came  all  the  troops  that  could  be*  spared  from 
Charleston,  and  the  divisions  of  Iloke  and  Pickett 
were  brought  up  from  North  Carolina. 

Pickett  arrived  at  Petersburg  with  his  division 
on  the  same  day  that  Butler  landed  at  Bermuda 
Hundreds. 

On  the  6th,  a  skirmish  occurred  at  Port  Walthal 
Junction,  about  half-way  between  Petersburg  and 
Drewry's  Bluff,  in  which  the  enemy  were  driven 
back.  Butler  advanced  again  on  the  morning  of 
the  7th,  and  was  repulsed  by  Pickett's  division  at 
the  same  point.  Pickett,  in  order  to  deceive  the 
enemy  with  the  idea  that  reinforcements  were  com- 
ing into  Petersburg,  ran  the  locomotives  backwards 


1864.]  GENERAL    ROBERT   E.  LEE.  257 

and  forwards  all  night,  but  fortunately  Butler  did 
not  attempt  to  occupy  the  town. 

On  the  9th,  however,  he  proceeded  with  his 
whole  force  to  Chester,  on  the  railroad  between 
Petersburg  and  Richmond,  and  dividing  his  army, 
with  one-half  facing  Richmond,  was  about  to  move 
upon  Petersburg  with  the  other.  At  this  juncture, 
a  despatch  from  the  Federal  Government  reached 
him  that  Grant  was  pressing  Lee  upon  Richmond. 
Butler  immediately  abandoned  his  plan  of  attack- 
ing Petersburg,  and  turned  all  his  thoughts  upon 
Richmond. 

Beauregard  arrived  on  the  13th,  and  occupied  a 
strong  line  in  front  of  Drewry's  Bluff.  Butler  fol- 
lowing the  Confederates  to  Drewry's  Bluff,  was 
permitted  by  Beauregard  to  occupy  his  outer  line 
of  works.  Beauregard  was  anxious  to  draw  him 
as  far  as  possible  from  his  gun-boats,  and  deter- 
mined to  strike  a  decisive  blow,  which,  if  success- 
ful, would  have  resulted  in  the  destruction  or  sur- 
render of  his  whole  command. 

On  the  morning  of  the  16th  of  May,  under  cover 
of  a  dense  fog,  General  Beauregard  made  his  at- 
tack. Butler's  right  was  completely  broken.  The 
attack  upon  the  other  wing  was  not  so  successful, 
but  the  advantage  gained  was  sufficient  to  have  in- 
sured the  destruction  of  Butler's  army  had  it  not 
been  for  the  extraordinary  inaction  of  General 
Whiting.  This  officer,  who  was  in  Butler's  rear  at 

22*  R 


258  A    POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1864. 

Port  Walthal  Junction  with  a  large  force,  was 
ordered  to  throw  forward  his  command  across  the 
neck  of  land  between  the  two  rivers,  place  himself 
upon  the  line  of  retreat,  and  cut  Butler  off  from  his 
base  at  Bermuda  Hundreds.  But  General  Whiting 
remained  stationary  at  Port  Walthal  Junction,  and 
thus  prevented  the  execution  of  Beauregard's  bril- 
liant scheme. 

During  the  night  of  the  10th,  Butler  withdrew 
his  forces  to  Bermuda  Hundreds.  By  the  1st  of 
June  his  army  "was  as  completely  shut  off  from 
further  operations  directly  against  Richmond,"  in 
the  forcible  language  of  General  Grant,'  "  as  if  it 
had  been  in  a  bottle  strongly  corked." 

On  the  12th  of  June  General  Grant  prepared  to 
leave  the  Chickahominy  on  his  march  to  the  James, 
which  he  crossed  at  Wilcox's  Landing  on  the  14th. 
General  Lee  was  well  informed  as  to  his  adversary's 
movements,  but,  in  the  absence  of  Early,  did  not 
deem  it  prudent  to  attempt  to  stop  his  progress. 
He  proceeded  to  put  his  army  in  a  position  to  cover 
Richmond,  or  to  march  to  the  defence  of  Peters- 
burg, in  case  this  should  be  the  object  of  Grant's 
attack.  Grant,  it  was  soon  apparent,  had  resolved 
upon  surprising  Petersburg,  and  gaining  possession 
of  it  before  Lee  could  send  forward  a  sufficient 
force  to  resist  him.  General  Smith  was  dispatched 
in  advance  of  the  main  army  to  carry  this  plan  into 
effect.  About  six  miles  from  Petersburg  he  came 


1864.]  GENERAL   ROBERT   E.LEE.  259 

upon  Confederate  works,  guarded  by  a  small  force 
of  local  militia,  made  up  of  men  and  boys  of  the 
town,  under  Captain  Farinholt,  who  fought  bravely. 
These  works  were  soon  taken ;  but  advancing  upon 
the  fortifications  nearer  the  city,  he  was  surprised 
at  their  strong  appearance,  and,  deceived  by  the 
steady  fire  of  the  Confederates,  concluded  that  their 
force  was  much  greater  than  he  had  been  led  to 
suppose. 

Late  in  the  evening  an  attack  was  made  upon  the 
outer  line,  and  the  Confederates,  after  repulsing 
three  successive  assaults,  at  length  fell  back  to  the 
inner  works. 

Beauregard,  seeing  the  great  danger  to  which 
Petersburg  was  exposed,  detached  the  greater  por- 
tion of  his  command  from  Butler's  front  to  aid  in 
its  defence. 

General  Lee,  who  was  advancing  as  rapidly  as 
possible,  found  Butler  menacing  the  railroads  and 
already  occupying  Beauregard's  deserted  works. 
Anderson's  corps  hastened  forward,  and  Pickett's 
division,  dashing  impetuously  upon  the  enemy, 
drove  him  back  to  Bermuda  Hundreds,  and  re- 
established Beauregard's  line. 

General  Lee,  not  wishing  to  bring  on  a  battle  at 
this  point,  gave  orders  not  to  press  the  enemy,  but 
to  confine  themselves  to  checking  Butler's  advance. 
But  the  gallant  men  of  Pickett's  division  could  not 
be  held  back. 


260  A    POPULAR    LIFE   OF  [1864. 

"  "We  tried  very  hard,"  wrote  General  Lee,  in  a 
complimentary  despatch  to  the  corps  commander, 
"  to  stop  Pickett's  men  from  capturing  the  breast- 
works of  the  enemy,  but  could  not  do  it." 

The  Federal  General  in  front  of  Petersburg,  in 
the  meanwhile,  contented  himself  with  holding  the 
works  he  had  won,  and  awaited  the  arrival  of  Grant 
to  renew  the  attack. 

General  Lee's  advanced  forces  arrived  in  Peters- 
burg on  the  night  of  the  15th.  The  Federals,  re- 
inforced by  the  arrival  of  the  9th  corps,  had  as- 
saulted the  Confederate  works  that  day  about  noon, 
and  again  driven  in  the  besieged  forces;  but  upon 
General  Lee's  arrival  with  fresh  troops,  the  works 
were  regained.  The  attack  renewed  on  the  17th 
and  18th  each  time  proved  unsuccessful,  Grant 
losing  in  these  assaults  ten  thousand  men. 

It  was  plain  that  the  "  Cockade  City "  was  no 
longer  an  easy  prey,  and  Grant,  becoming  con- 
vinced that  the  city  could  not  now  be  taken  by 
direct  assault,  intrenched  his  army  and  prepared 
for  a  regular  investment.  In  order  to  complete  his 
operations,  it  was  necessary  to  get  possession  of  the 
AVeldon  Railroad,  and  a  force  was  sent  out  for  this 
purpose  on  the  evening  of  the  21st. 

General  Lee  ordered  Mahone's  division  to  cut 
them  off,  which  was  promptly  done.  Mahone  falling 
upon  them,  captured  several  regiments  and  a  bat- 
tery of  guns,  returning  to  his  position  with  equal 
celerity. 


1864.]  GENERAL    ROBERT    E.  LEE.  261 

A  cavalry  party  of  the  enemy  was  sent  off  about 
the  same  time  for  the  purpose  of  getting  possession 
of  the  railroads  south  of  the  Appomattox.  After 
partly  accomplishing  their  work,  they  were  pursued 
by  General  "W.  H.  F.  Lee,  and  routed  by  General 
Hampton  in  an  engagement  on  the  28th. 

Besides  a  number  of  prisoners  taken,  all  the  artil- 
lery and  trains,  abandoned  in  their  rapid  retreat, 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Confederates. 


CHAPTER   XXVII. 

The  Battle  of  the  Crater  —  Terrible  Carnage — Early's  Advance 
into  Maryland  —  Battle  of  Monocacy  —  In  Sight  of  the  Capitol 
—  Early  Retires  to  the  Opequon. 

AT  this  time,  General  Grant's  able  chief  of  artil- 
lery and  of  engineers  pronounced  an  assault 
upon  the  defences  of  Petersburg  "  impracticable." 
These  defences  extended  in  a  strong  line  east  and 
south  of  the  city,  and  far  enough  on  the  west  to 
reach  beyond  the  extreme  left  of  the  besieging 
army.  North  of  the  Appomattox  similar  works 
secured  it  against  any  attack  from  Butler. 

There  were  frequent  skirmishes  between  the  op- 
posing forces,  but  no  event  of  any  importance  took 
place  until  the  latter  part  of  July,  when  occurred 


262  A  POPULAR  LIFE  OF  [1864. 

what  is  known  in  the  South  as  the  battle  of  the 
Crater. 

One  of  Burnskle's  officers  had  in  June  proposed 
a  plan  by  which  he  deemed  the  city  could  be  made 
an  easy  capture.  This  was  to  dig  a  mine  under  an 
angle  of  the  Confederate  works  that  extended 
within  a  hundred  and  fifty  yards  of  the  Federal 
line.  The  fort  which  occupied  this  angle  destroyed 
by  the  explosion,  a  breach  would  be  made  through 
which  a  column  of  the  assailants  could  rush  upon 
the  ridge  beyond.  A  lodgment  once  secured,  the 
reduction  of  the  whole  line  would  soon  follow. 

The  work  was  planned  and  executed  with  the 
greatest  secrecy.  At  length,  on  the  25th  of  July, 
the  mine  was  ready.  A  tunnel  five  hundred  feet  in 
length  conducted  to  the  magazine,  which  was  di- 
rectly under  the  Confederate  fort.  In  this  were 
placed  twelve  thousand  pounds  of  powder. 

In  order  to  divert  suspicion,  and  to  force  General 
Lee  to  weaken  the  garrison  at  Petersburg,  General 
Grant  detached  Hancock's  corps  to  unite  with  But- 
ler  in  a  feint  upon  Richmond.  General  Lee  sent 
off  several  divisions  to  meet  this  demonstration, 
and  succeeded  in  pressing  Hancock  so  heavily  as 
to  make  it  evident  nothing  was  to  be  accomplished 
in  this  direction.  At  the  same  time,  Grant,  confi- 
dent from  the  resistance  offered  to  Hancock,  that 
Lee  had  considerably  reduced  his  numbers,  ordered 
the  former  to  return  with  the  utmost  secrecy  on 


1864.]  GENERAL    ROBERT   E.  LEE.  263 

the  29th,  to  take  part  in  the  great  assault  to  be 
made  the  following  day. 

General  Lee,  though  ignorant  of  the  real  state  of 
affairs,  was  not  deceived  by  the  movement  north  of 
the  James,  and  believed  that  it  covered  some  de- 
sign upon  the  lines  in  front  of  Petersburg. 

At  dawn  on  the  morning  of  the  30th,  this  design 
suddenly  unfolded  itself.  The  Confederates  were 
roused  from  sleep  by  a  terrific  explosion,  which 
actually  hurled  the  fort  into  the  air.  A  chasm  a 
hundred  and  fifty  feet  long,  sixty-five  feet  wide,  and 
twenty-five  or  thirty  feet  deep,  filled  the  space 
where  a  moment  before  the  Confederate  works  had 
been.  Instantly,  before  the  clouds  of  smoke  and 
dust  had  subsided,  the  fire  of  the  Federal  artillery 
opening  along  the  \vhole  line,  lent,  its  terrors  to  the 
scene.  A  Federal  corps,  fifteen  thousand  strong, 
advanced  quickly  to  the  edge  of  the  crater.  It  wras 
expected  they  should  gain  the  ridge  before  the 
Confederates  could  recover  from  their  surprise  and 
alarm.  But  they  halted  unaccountably  ;  a  sudden 
irresolution  seized  them.  In  the  meamvhile,  the 
men  of  Lee,  quick  to  recover  their  self-possession, 
brought  up  guns  and  formed  in  line.  Mahonc's  di- 
vision was  ordered  forward  to  meet  the  assailants, 
but  the  latter,  after  one  feeble  charge,  fell  back  into 
the  fatal  pit,  upon  which  the  Confederate  guns 
poured  a  destructive  fire.  Afraid  to  advance,  and 
hesitating  to  encounter  the  almost  certain  destruc- 


264  A    POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1864. 

tion  which  awaited  them  if  they  attempted  to  cross 
the  open  space  which  lay  between  the  pit  and  their 
own  lines,  the  demoralized  and  panic-stricken  foe, 
black  and  white  commingled,  trampled  one  another 
down  in  this  cavern  of  death. 

So  terrible  was  the  carnage  created  by  the  Con- 
federate guns,  that  General  Mahone  is  reported  to 
have  turned  away,  saying,  "  Stop  the  fire ;  it  makes 
me  sick." 

In  this  "miserable  affair,"  as  General  Grant  after- 
wards termed  it,  the  Federal  loss  was  four  thousand, 
while  the  Confederate  loss  had  been  but  a  few  hun- 
dreds. 

A  singular  verdict  was  afterwards  rendered  by 
the  Congressional  Committee,  convened  to  pro- 
nounce judgment  on  this  affair  of  the  mine.  "  The 
first  and  great  cause  of  disaster  was  the  employment  of 
white  instead  of  black  troops  to  make  the  charge" 

While  General  Lee  was  engaged  with  Grant  in 
front  of  Petersburg,  Early,  who  had  driven  Hunter 
before  him  from  the  Valley,  pushed  forward  into 
Maryland.  By  thus  threatening  the  Federal  capi- 
tal, General  Lee  hoped  to  remove  the  pressure  from 
his  front. 

On  the  3d  of  July,  Early  had  reached  Martins- 
burg.  On  the  7th  he  was  at  Frederick  City,  from 
which  place  he  could  move  either  upon  Baltimore 
or  Washington.  But  some  troops  had  been  hastily 
collected  to  oppose  him,  under  the  command  of 
General  Wallace;  and  establishing  themselves  on 


1864.]  GENERAL,   ROBERT    E.  LEE.  265 

the  left  bank  of  the  Monocacy  near  Frederick  City, 
prepared  to  resist  the  Confederate  advance.  Gen- 
eral Earl}'  attacked  them  on  the  8th.  The  Federals, 
breaking,  retreated  in  the  utmost  confusion  in  the 
direction  of  Gettysburg,  leaving  the  way  open  to 
Washington.  General  Wallace  lost  a  thousand 
killed  and  wounded  in  this  engagement  and  seven 
hundred  prisoners. 

Leaving  Monocacy,  General  Early  reached  Roek- 
ville  on  the  10th,  in  sight  of  Washington.  Great 
alarm  prevailed  here  and  throughout  the  North  at 
the  near  approach  of  the  "  Kebel  "  leader.  From 
the  windows  of  the  capitol  the  Southern  flag  could 
be  plainly  distinguished,  and  the  firing  of  the  Con- 
federate skirmishers  could  be  heard  in  the  chambers 
of  the  White  House. 

At  last  it  seemed  as  if  the  cherished  hope  of 
seizing  Washington  was  to  be  accomplished.  But 
General  Early  hesitated;  the  long  and  arduous 
inarch  in  the  heat  of  summer  had  reduced  his  num- 
bers to  eight  thousand  infantry,  which,  with  two 
thousand  cavalry  and  forty  pieces  of  artillery,  made 
up  his  whole  command.  They  had  marched  five 
hundred  miles,  averaging  twenty  miles  a  day. 
Many  had  dropped  down  on  the  way,  exhausted 
by  heat  and  fatigue.  General  Early  had  no  means 

«/  *_• 

of  knowing  what  forces  lay  behind  the  strong  de- 
fences of  Washington,  and  did  not  deem  it  pru- 
dent to  attack  them.  It  was  afterwards  ascertained 


266  A   POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1864. 

that  a  large  force  under  General  Wright,  ordered 
to  the  defence  of  the  capital,  had  arrived  there  just 
before  Early. 

Falling  back  from  before  Washington,  General 
Early's  rear-guard  engaging  General  Wright,  who 
had  followed  in  pursuit,  at  Snicker's  Ferry,  the  lat- 
ter was  repulsed,  and  returned  to  Washington. 

Later  in  July,  Early  sent  a  cavalry  party  into 
Pennsylvania  under  General  McCausland,  to  burn 
Chambersburg,  in  retaliation  for  the  outrages  com- 
mitted by  Hunter  in  Virginia. 

General  Grant,  who  had  at  first  concluded  to 
recall  the  troops  sent  from  Petersburg,  finding 
Early's  army  remained  in  the  Valley,  a  standing 
menace  to  Washington  and  Pennsylvania,  decided 
to  leave  them  under  the  command  of  Hunter.  A 
new  command  was  organized  to  be  known  as  the 
Middle  Military  Division,  and  given  to  General 
Hunter. 

General  Early  brought  back  with  him  from  Mary- 
land valuable  supplies,  which  were  much  needed  — 
five  thousand  horses  and  twenty-five  hundred  beef 
cattle. 

His  movement  had  been  not  without  success  as 
regarded  its  primary  object,  justifying  the  wise 
policy  of  the  Confederate  commander-in-chief. 

An  army  of  forty  or  fifty  thousand  men  were  sent 
to  watch  Early,  who  had  established  himself  on  the 
banks  of  the  Opcquon,  Grant's  forces  being  depleted 
to  this  amount. 


1864.]  GENERAL  ROBERT   E.  LEE.  267 


CHAPTER   XXVIII. 

Battle  of  Clmfin's  Farm  —  Struggle?  for  the  Weldon  Road  — Ream's 
Station  —  The  South  Side  Road  —  Hatcher's  Run  —  General 
Lee's  Despatch  —  Reverses  in  the  Valley  —  Winchester  —  Fish- 
er's Hill  —  Cedar  Creek  —  General  Lee's  Letter  to  General  Early. 

A  FTER  the  failure  of  the  mine  no  further  direct 
-£•*•  attack  was  made  upon  Petersburg.  General 
Grant  sought  to  extend  his  lines  to  the  left,  in  order 
to  gain  possession  of  the  important  railroads,  which 
were  the  avenues  of  communication  between  Rich- 
mond and  the  South. 

At  the  same  time  several  movements  were  made 
on  the  north  side  of  the  James,  of  which  the  ulte- 
rior object  was  to  draw  off  attention  from  the  south 
side. 

In  August,  General  Hancock  landed  at  Deep 
Bottom  with  a  large  force,  from  which  point  it  was 
deemed  a  successful  attack  might  be  made  on  Cha- 
fin's  Bluff.  Several  days  of  indecisive  skirmishing 
were  followed,  on  the  16th,  b}-  an  assault  on  the 
Southern  position.  At  first  successful,  it  ended  at 
length  in  the  complete  repulse  of  the  attacking 
force,  the  Confederates  holding  the  entire  line 
after  nine  hours'  heavy  fighting. 

On  the  20th  Hancock  returned  to  the  south 
side,  having  lost  in  his  fruitless  expedition  fifteen 


268  A  POPULAR  LIFE  OP  [1864. 

hundred  men.  The  Confederate  loss  did  not  ex- 
ceed five  hundred. 

General  Lee  had  long  before  expressed  his  ina- 
bility to  hold  the  Weldon  Road,  should  the  enemy 
make  any  serious  effort  to  gain  it.  But,  in  obedi- 
ence to  the  wishes  of  the  Government,  he  endeav- 
ored to  retain  it  as  long  as  possible.  Therefore 
when  General  Grant,  in  pursuance  of  the  plan  al- 
ready intimated,  taking  advantage  of  the  depletion 
of  Lee's  lines  from  the  withdrawal  of  the  rein- 
forcements sent  to  meet  Hancock,  occupied  the 
Weldon  Road,  it  was  nothing  more  than  General 
Lee  had  anticipated.  He  resolved,  however,  to 
make  an  effort  to  dislodge  the  Federal  force  under 
Warren,  which  held  possession  of  it.  On  the  19th, 
two  divisions  of  Hill's  corps  attacked  Warren  with 
some  success,  though  failing  to  drive  him  off.  A 
series  of  engagements  followed,  resulting  in  severe 
losses  to  the  Federals,  but  they  continued  to  retain 
the  road.  General  Warren  reported  in  this  under- 
taking a  loss  of  four  thousand  four  hundred  and 
fifty-five  in  killed,  wounded,  and  missing. 

At  Ream's  Station  another  engagement  ensued, 
on  the  25th  of  August,  between  Hancock,  who  had 
been  sent  up  behind  Warren,  and  a  portion  of  A. 
P.  Hill's  corps.  Here  the  Federal  forces  were  re- 
pulsed with  severe  loss ;  Heth's  division,  making  a 
vigorous  charge,  broke  their  line,  and  Hampton's 
cavalry  following,  completed  their  discomfiture. 


1864.]  GENERAL    RORERT    E.  LEE.  269 

But  this  victory  did  not  alter  the  general  result. 
Warren  threw  up  intrenchments  and  prepared  to 
make  his  position  a  permanent  line. 

Jn  September,  another  movement  was  planned 
for  an  advance  upon  the  north  side. 

Butler  moved  out  towards  Chafin's  Farm  on  the 
28th,  and,  under  cover  of  a  movement  of  Warren's, 
succeeded  in  capturing  Fort  Harrison,  an  impor- 
tant post,  from  which  he  threatened  the  Confederate 
main  line.  An  effort  was  made  subsequently  to 
recover  this  fort,  but  without  success.  All  attempts 
on  the  part  of  Butler,  however,  to  penetrate  fur- 
ther towards  the  Confederate  works  at  Chafm's 
Bluff  were  repulsed. 

The  loss  of  the  Weldon  Road  was  of  minor  im- 
portance to  the  Confederates  as  long  as  they  re- 
tained the  South  Side  Road.  This,  therefore,  was 
the  great  object  to  which  all  General  Grant's  move- 
ments tended.  In  October,  a  final  attempt  was 
made  on  a  large  scale  to  accomplish  its  capture 
before  the  winter  set  in. 

The  troops  were  put  in  light  marching  order. 
Three  corps  proceeded,  on  the  27th,  to  Hatcher's 
Run,  leaving  a  force  barely  sufficient  to  hold  the 
works  at  Petersburg.  Hatcher's  Run  crosses  the 
Boydton  Road,  where  the  extreme  right  of  the  Con- 
federate force  was  intrenched.  Upon  Hearing  the 
Boydton  Iload,  the  Confederate  line  was  found  to 
extend  much  beyond  the  point  where  they  had  sup- 

23* 


270  A    POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1864. 

posed  it  terminated,  and  was,  moreover,  BO  strong 
that  Hancock  hesitated  to  attack  it. 

During  the  march,  a  gap  occurred  hetween  the 
5th  corps,  which  had  heen  sent  to  Hancock's  as- 
sistance, and  his  own  immediate  command.  This 
afforded  an  opportunity  for  the  Confederates  to 
throw  a  force  in  between  them.  Mahone  attacked 
Hancock's  right,  driving  it  more  than  a  mile. 
Hampton's  cavalry  closed  in  upon  his  rear  at  the 
same  time.  Four  hundred  prisoners  and  six  pieces 
of  artillery  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Confederates. 
.  Later  in  the  day  Hancock  attacked  Mahone,  and 
endeavored  to  regain  his  former  position,  but  with- 
out success. 

General  Lee's  despatch  of  28th  October  gives  the 
following  report  of  this  affair: 

"  HKADQUAKTEKS  ARMY  NORTHERN  VIRGINIA, 
"  October  28,  1864. 

"Hex.  SECRETARY  OF  A\rAu. 

"General  Hill  re-ports  that  the  attack  of  General 
lleth  upon  the  enemy  on  the  Boydton  Plank  Koad, 
mentioned  in  my  despatch  last  evening,  was  made 
by  three  brigades  under  General  Mahone  in  front, 
and  General  Hampton  in  the  rear.  Mahone  cap- 
tured four  hundred  prisoners,  three  stand  of  colors, 
and  six  pieces  of  artillery.  The  latter  could  not  he 
brought  off,  the  enemy  having  possession  of  the 
bridge. 

"  In  the  attack  subsequently  made  by  the  enemy, 
General  Mahone  broke  three  lines  of  battle,  and 


1864.]  GENERAL   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  271 

during  the  night  the  enemy  retreated  from  the 
Boydton  Road,  leaving  his  wounded  and  more  than 
two  hundred  and  iit'ty  dead  on  the  field. 

"About  nine  o'clock  p.  M.,  a  small  force  as- 
saulted and  took  possession  of  our  works  on  the 
Baxter  Road,  in  front  of  Petersburg,  but  were  soon 
driven  out, 

"  On  the  Williamsburg  Road,  General  Field  cap- 
tured upward  of  four  hundred  prisoners  and  seven 
stand  of  colors.  The  enemy  left  a  number  of  dead 
in  front  of  our  works,  and  to-day  retreated  to  his 
former  position.  R,  E.  LEE." 

Thus  ended  this  ambitious  movement.  The  Con- 
federate outer  lines  had  been  found  to  be  quite  as 
strong  as  those  around  Petersburg. 

In  the  meantime,  events  in  the  Valley  had  not 
fulfilled  the  expectations  of  the  army  and  the 
country. 

General  Early  had  a  difficult  task  before  him. 
The  circumstances  were  very  similar  to  those  that 
had  called  into  action  the  splendid  genius  of  Jack- 
son, and  the  theatre  of  war  the  same  that  had  wit- 
nessed his  great  feats  of  arms. 

Sheridan,  who  had  succeeded  Hunter,  command- 
ed in  this  Valley  campaign  not  less  than  thirty 
thousand  infantry  and  ten  thousand  cavalry. 

General  Early 's  force  numbered  eight  thousand 
five  hundred  infantry,  and  three  thousand  cavalry, 
badly  mounted  and  badly  armed.  Notwithstanding 


272  A    POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1864. 

tliis  great  advantage,  Sheridan  remained  inactive 
through  the  month  of  August,  and  it  was  not  until 
the  latter  part  of  September  that  any  movement 
was  made. 

On  the  19th,  the  battle  of  Winchester  took  place, 
or,  as  it  has  been  called  by  Northern  writers,  the 
battle  of  the  Opcquon.  Thirty  thousand  infantry 
engaged  eight  thousand.  After  several  hours  of 
hard  lighting,  during  which  the  Southern  forces 
bravely  held  their  ground,  at  four  in  the  evening 
Sheridan  brought  up  his  cavalry.  They  completely 
enveloped  the  Confederate  left.  All  the  troops 
were  closely  engaged.  There  were  no  forces  to 
bring  against  this  overwhelming  advance  of  the 
Federal  cavalry.  With  their  flank  turned  and  hotly 
pressed  in  front,  the  Confederates,  who  had  so  gal- 
lantly withstood  the  infantry  attack  from  eleven 
o'clock  until  four,  were  compelled  to  fall  back.* 
General  Early  lost  twenty-five  hundred  prisoners 
and  five  pieces  of  artillery.  Retreating  through  the 
Valley,  he  took  up  a  position  at  Fisher's  Hill,  on 
the  Shenandoah,  near  Strasburg. 

General  Early,  in  his  "  Memoirs  of  the  Last  Year 
of  the  War,"  says  of  this  battle :  "  As  it  was,  con- 

* "  The  Confederate  cavalry  of  the  Valley,  consisting  of  two 
divisions  under  Fitz-Lce  and  Lomax,  was  at  this  time  in  a  deplor- 
able condition,  materially  and  morally.  'Our  horses,'  says  a  letter 
from  a  Confederate  officer  of  this  force,  'had  been  fed  on  nothing 
but  hay  for  some  time,  and  were  quite  weak  ;  and  want  of  dis- 
cipline had  greatly  demoralized  the  men.'  "  —  Swinton.. 


1864.]  GENERAL    ROBERT    E.  LEE.  273 

sidcring  the  immense  disparity  of  numbers  and 
equipment,  the  enemy  had  very  little  to  boast  of. 
I  had  lost  a  few  pieees  of  artillery  and  some  very 
valuable  officers  and  men,  but  the  main  part  of  my 
force  and  all  my  trains  had  been  saved,  and  the 
enemy's  loss  in  killed  and  wounded  was  far  greater 
than  mine." 

At  Winchester  fell  the  gallant  Major-Gencral 
Rodes,  to  whose  valuable  counsels  General  Early 
expressed  himself  much  indebted  at  this  time  of 
grave  responsibility  and  trial. 

At  Fishers  Hill,  on  the  22d  of  September,  another 
engagement  occurred.  It  could  scarcely  be  called  a 
battle.  Early's  army  now  numbered  but  four 
thousand  infantry,  and  his  cavalry  was  also  much 
reduced.  Attacked  at  the  same  time  in  front  and 
rear,  his  left  resting  on  JS"orth  Mountain  having 
been  flanked  by  an  infantry  corps,  Early  was  driven 
in  disorder,  but  his  line  of  retreat,  kept  open  at  Mil- 
ford  by  a  division  of  Confederate  cavalry  under 
General  Wickham,  enabled  him  to  reach  the  Blue 
llidge  in  safety. 

Sheridan  now  proceeded  to  lay  waste  the  Valley, 
destroying  not  only  forage  and  those  articles  which 
it  might  be  considered  allowable  to  waste  in  time 
of  war,*  \mtfarminy  implements,  and  "  over  seventy 
mills  tilled  with  flour  and  wheat."  This  has  been 

*  He  says  :  "  I  have  destroyed  2,000  barns  filled  with  hay  and 
farming  implements." 


274  A   POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1864. 

characterized  even  by  a  Northern  writer  as  a  viola- 
tion of  the  law  of  nations.  After  quoting  Sheri- 
dan's despatch,  he  adds,  "  this  dread  bulletin  recites 
acts,  some  of  which  are  indefensible."  * 

Cooke  thus  graphically  describes  the  desolation 
caused  by  this  cruel  conduct : 

"  Before  the  torches  in  the  hands  of  his  troops, 
houses,  barns,  mills,  farming  implements,  all  dis- 
appeared in  flame.  Women  and  children  were 
seen  flying  by  the  light  of  burning  dwellings. 
Corn,  wheat,  and  forage,  the  only  supplies  left  the 
inhabitants,  were  seized  or  destroyed.  The  very 
ploughs  and  rakes  were  broken  up  and  rendered 
useless.  From  the  women,  gray  beards,  and  chil- 
dren, threatened  with  starvation,  went  up  a  cry  to 
God  for  vengeance  on  the  author  of  this  enor- 
mity." 

As  the  Northern  historian  quoted  above  has 
observed,  the  desolation  of  the  Palatinate  by  the 
French  armies  in  1674,  which  called  down  on 
Louvois  the  censures  of  the  civilized  world,  was 
not  more  complete. 

General  Earl}'  was  reinforced  at  this  time  by 
Ker.shaw's  division  of  infantry,  and  six  hundred 
cavalry,  and  returning  to  the  Valley,  determined 
upon  an  assault  on  the  Federal  position  at  Cedar 
Creek.  A  direct  attack  was  deemed  too  hazardous, 
and  a  surprise  was  accordingly  planned,  consisting 
of  a  flank  movement  on  the  enemy's  left. 

*  SWINTON  :    Citinpaiyns  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac. 


1864.]  GENERAL    ROBERT   E.  LEE.  275 

On  the  night  of  the  18th,  a  column  of  Confed- 
erate infantry  succeeded  in  getting  in  their  rear. 
The  Federal  troops  were  roused  from  sleep  by  the 
shouts  of  the  victorious  Southerners  in  their  midst. 
The  camp,  with  all  that  it  contained,  became  the 
prize  of  the  Confederates.  Eighteen  pieces  of 
artillery  and  fifteen  hundred  prisoners  fell  into 
their  hands.  General  AVright,  in  temporary  com- 
mand of  the  Federal  troops,  endeavored  to  rally 
the  disorganized  masses,  but  without  success.  The 
attack  in  front,  which  had  followed  the  flanking 
movement,  was  equally  resistless.  The  victory 
seemed  complete.  At  Middletown,  General  AVright 
had  paused.  Pursued  by  the  Confederates,  he  con- 
tinued his  retreat,  but  soon  halted  again,  and,  re- 
forming his  line,  prepared  to  attack  Early  in  turn. 
The  Confederate  troops  in  the  meanwhile,  attracted 
by  the  rich  spoils  of  the  Federal  camp,  shamefully 
forgot  their  duty,  and  losing  all  discipline,  were  in 
no  condition  to  receive  the  counter-charge. 

The  Confederate  victory  of  the  morning,  in  the 
afternoon  was  changed  to  defeat,  "With  this  morti- 
fying result  ended  all  hopes  for  the  Valley. 

Of  this  battle,  General  Early  says : 

"  This  was  the  case  of  a  glorious  victory  given 
up  by  my  own  troops  after  they  had  won  it,  and  it 
is  to  be  accounted  for  on  the  ground  of  the  partial 
demoralization  caused  by  the  plunder  of  the  ene- 
my's camps,  and  from  the  fact  that  the  men  under- 


276  A    POPULAR   LIFE   OP  [1864. 

took  to  judge  for  themselves  Avhen  it  was  proper 

to  retire 

"I  read  a  sharp  lecture  to  my  troops,  in  an  ad- 
dress published  to  them  a  few  days  after  the  battle, 
but  I  never  attributed  the  result  to  a  want  of  cour- 
age on  their  part,  for  I  had  seen  them  perform  too 
many  prodigies  of  valor  to  doubt  that  there  was  an 
individuality  about  the  Confederate  soldier  which 
caused  him  to  act  often  in  battle  according  to  his 
own  opinions,  and  thereby  impair  his  own  effi- 
ciency, and  the  tempting  bait  offered  by  the  rich 
plunder  of  the  camps  of  the  enemy's  well-fed  and 
well-clothed  troops,  was  frequently  too  great  for  our 
destitute  soldiers,  and  caused  them  to  pause  in  the 
career  of  victory."  * 

*  General  Early  was  not  long  afterwards  relieved  of  his  com- 
mand in  the  Valley,  upon  which  occasion  General  Lee  wrote  him 
the  following  considerate  letter  : 

"HEADQUARTERS  C.  S.  ARMIES, 
"30th  March,  1805. 

"  LIEUTENANT-GENERAL  J.  A.  EARLY,  Franklin  Co.,  Va. 

"GENERAL:  —  My  telegram  will  have  informed  you  that  I  deem 
a  change  of  commanders  in  your  department  necessary;  but  it  is 
due  to  your  zealous  and  patriotic  services  that  I  should  explain 
the  reasons  that  prompted  my  action.  The  situation  of  affairs  is 
such  that  we  can  neglect  no  means  calculated  to  develop  the 
resources  we  possess  to  the  greatest  extent,  and  make  them  as 
efficient  as  possible.  To  this  end  it  is  essential  that  we  should 
have  the  cheerful  and  hearty  support  of  (lie  people,  and  the 
full  confidence  of  the  soldiers,  without  which  our  efforts  would 
be  embarrassed  and  our  means  of  resistance  weakened.  I  have 
reluctantly  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  you  cannot  command 
the  united  and  willing  co-opt- ration  which  is  so  essential  to 
success.  Your  reverses  in  the  Valley,  of  which  the  public  and 
the  army  judge  chiefly  by  the  results,  have,  I  fear,  impaired 
your  influence  both  with  the  people  and  the  soldiers,  and  would 
add  greatly  to  the  difficulties  which  will  under  any  circum- 
stances attend  our  military  operations  in  S.  W.  Virginia.  While 
my  own  confidence  in  your  ability,  zeul,  and  devotion  to  the  cause 


1864.]          GENERAL,    ROBERT   E.  LEE.  277 


CHAPTER    XXIX. 

Winter  in  the  Trenches  —  Sufferings  of  the  Troops  —  "  Les  Mise- 
rable.*" —  Disasters  in  the  South  —  Depression  of  the  People  — 
General  Lee  appointed  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Confederate 
Armies  —  Failure  of  Peace  Negotiations  —  Proposed  Enlistment 
of  Negroes. 

A  FTER  the  "  great  reeonnoissance  "  in  October, 
-£*-  the  armies  around  Petersburg  went  into  win- 
ter-quarters. No  extensive  movement  could  be  car- 
ried on  at  this  Reason.  In  December,  however, 
another  attack  was  made  on  the  Weldon  Road,  for 
the  purpose  of  extending  the  Federal  lines  further 
southward.  Hampton  encountered  Warren's  pick- 
ets and  drove  them  in,  repulsing  the  latter  at  Bell- 
field  ;  but  Warren  succeeded,  before  Hampton  ar- 
rived, in  destroying  a  considerable  portion  of  the 

is  unimpaired,  I  have  nevertheless  felt  that  1  could  not  oppose 
what  seems  to  be  the  current  of  opinion,  without  injustice  to 
your  reputation  and  injury  to  the  service.  I  therefore  felt  con- 
strained to  endeavor  to  find  a  commander  who  would  be  more 
likely  to  develop  the  strength  and  resources  of  the  country,  and 
inspire  the  soldiers  with  proper  confidence ;  and  to  accomplish 
this  purpose,  I  thought  it  proper  to  yield  my  own  opinion,  and  to 
defer  to  that  of  those  to  whom  alone  we  can  look  for  support.  I 
am  sure  that  you  will  understand  and  appreciate  my  motives,  and 
no  one  will  be  more  ready  than  yourself  to  acquiesce  in  any  meas- 
ures which  the  interests  of  the  country  may  seem  to  require,  re 
gardless  of  all  personal  considerations. 

"  Thanking  you  for  the  fidelity  and  energy  with  which  you 
have  always  supported  my  efforts,  and  for  the  courage  and  devo 
lion  you  have  ever  manifested  in  the  service  of  (lie  country,  I  am, 
very  respectfully  and  truly, 

"  Your  obedient  servant, 

"  11.   E.   LEE,  General." 
24 


278  A    POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1864. 

road.  With  the  exception  of  continual  picket- 
firing,  all  was  now  quiet.  But  winter,  though 
bringing  with  it  exemption  from  active  duty,  fear- 
fully increased  the  sufferings  and  privations  of  the 
poor  soldiers  of  the  South. 

At  one  time  during  this  last  month  of  '64,  Gen- 
eral Lee  had  but  nine  days'  rations  for  his  army. 
Owing  to  the  want  of  warm  clothing  and  short 
rations,  desertions  became  more  and  more  frequent. 
Fortunately,  the  arrival  of  several  ships  at  Wilming- 
ton, loaded  with  supplies,  enabled  the  Government 
to  relieve  the  army  in  this  great  emergency. 

Cooke,  in  one  of  his  interesting  books  about  the 
wrar,  gives  a  graphic  picture  of  their  condition  at 
this  period  of  the  struggle  : 

"  They  had  a  quarter  of  a  pound  of  rancid  '  Nassau 
bacon,'  from  New  England,  for  daily  rations  of 
meat.  The  handful  of  flour  or  cornmeal  which 
they  received  was  musty.  Coffee  and  sugar  were 
doled  out  as  a  luxury  now  and  then  only;  and  the 
microscopic  ration  became  a  jest  to  those  who 
looked  at  it 

"  Their  clothes,  blankets,  and  shoes  were  no  bet- 
ter—  even  worse.  Only  at  long  intervals  could  the 
Government  issue  new  ones  to  them.  Thus  the 
army  was  in  tatters.  The  old  clothes  hung  on  the 
men  like  scarecrows.  Their  gray  jackets  were  in 
rags,  and  did  not  keep  out  the  chilly  wind  sweeping 
over  the  frozen  fields.  Their  old  blankets  were  in 
shreds,  and  gave  them  little  warmth  when  they 


1864.]  GENERAL,   ROBERT    E.  LEE.  279 

wrapped  themselves  in  them,  shivering1  in  the  long, 
cold  nights.  The  old  shoes,  patehed  and  yawning, 
had  served  in  many  a  mareh  and  battle,  and  now 
allowed  the  naked  sole  to  touch  the  hard  and  frosty 
ground." 

They  were  indeed  "Lee's  Miserables."* 
And  their  noble  leader  felt  keenly  the  privations 
of  his  men.  lie  spared  no  exertion  to  ameliorate 
the  hardships  of  their  condition.  But  the  Govern- 
ment seemed  to  find  it  impossible  to  make  any  bet- 
ter provision  for  its  defenders.  The  cheerfulness 
and  composure  of  General  Lee  under  the  pressing 
anxieties  of  this  memorable  winter  excited  the 
wonder  and  admiration  of  all  who  saw  him.  The 
love  and  confidence  of  the  soldiers  had  long  been 
his;  and  as  one  by  one  the  armies  of  the  South  and 

*  "They  called  themselves  Lee's  Miserables,  .  .  .  and  the  name 
bad  had  a  somewhat  curious  origin.  Victor  Hugo's  work,  Let 
Mixfrablcs,  had  been  translated  and  published  by  a  house  in  Rich- 
mond;  the  soldiers,  in  (he  great,  dearth  of  reading-matter,  had 
seized  upon  it;  and  thus,  by  a  strange  chance,  the  tragic  story  of 
the  great  French  writer  had  become  known  to  the  soldiers  in  the 
trenches.  Everywhere  you  might  see  the  gaunt,  figures  in  their 
tattered  jackets,  bending  over  the  dingy  pamphlets  — '  Fantine,' 
'Cosette,'  or  'Marius,'  or  'St.  Denis,'  and  the  woes  of  'Jean 
Valjean,'  the  old  galley-slave,  found  an  echo  in  the  hearts  of  these 
brave  soldiers,  immured  in  the  trenches  and  fettered  by  duty  to 
their  muskets  or  their  cannon."  —  MOIIUN. 

A  story  went  the  rounds  of  the  papers  at  this  time,  of  an  old 
woman,  who,  seeing  the  notice  of  one  of  this  series  in  a  booksel- 
ler's shop,  "  Les  Miserables,"  "  Fantine,"  mistook  it  for  a  bulle- 
tin from  the  seat  of  war.  "  Lee's  Miserables,  fainting!  "  exclaimed 
the  excited  old  lady,  and  she  went  in  to  ask  for  further  details, 
as  her  son  was  "  one  of  them." 


280  A    POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1864. 

West  fell  back  before  the  foe,  leaving  Sherman  to 
pursue  his  unmolested  "  march  to  the  sea,"  allow- 
ing Wilmington,  though  bravely  defended  by  the 
handful  of  troops  at  Fort  Fisher,  to  be  lost  to  the 
South,  with  its  valuable  seaport,  all  eyes  turned 
upon  General  Lee  as  the  one  hope  of  the  sorely 
tried  nation.  In  an  editorial  of  the  "  Examiner  " 
of  December  29,  we  have  a  glimpse  of  the  state 
of  public  feeling,  and  the  measure  that  was  clam- 
ored for  as  a  remedy  for  the  evils  that  were  believed 
to  exist,  namely,  the  transfer  of  the  supreme  mili- 
tary power  to  General  Lee. 

"  The  Southern  States,"  says  this  writer,  "  are 
in  no  danger  so  long  as  the  spirit  of  the  people  is 
what  it  has  hitherto  been.  But  let  us  not  be  blind 
to  the  truth,  that  there  is  such  a  thing  possible  as  a 
decay  of  national  confidence  and  a  death  of  national 
spirit.  There  is  such  a  thing  as  heartbreak  for  na- 
tions as  for  individuals.  There  are  such  things  as 

O 

hopelessness  and  despair,  lethargy  and  apathy.  A 
conviction  that  all  that  it  will  do  must  come  to 
nought,  all  sacrifices  it  can  make  be  rendered  vain 
by  an  irremediable  cause,  —  a  conviction  resting  on 
rational  grounds,  both  of  reflection  and  experiment, 
—  will  produce  this  state  of  feeling  in  any  nation, 

however  heroic  and  obstinate 

"Nothing  will  remove  the  cloud,  or  rather  the 
lurid,  ill-omened  light  which  now  rests  on  the  fu- 
ture, but  measures  that  touch  the  root  of  our  evil. 
Such  a  measure  there  is.  ...  It  is  the  creation  of 
a  new  officer — a  eommauder-in-chief — who  shall 


1865.]  GENERAL    ROBERT    E.  LEE.  281 

exercise  supreme  control  over  the  armies  and  mili- 
tary affairs  of  this  Confederacy ;  and  the  appoint- 
ment of  General  Lee  to  be  that  ofliccr." 

"With  the  beginning  of  the  New  Year  came  ru- 
mors of  peace,  and  the  public  mind  was  greatly  ex- 
cited by  the  secret  visit  of  Mr.  Blair  to  Richmond. 

In  the  meanwhile,  General  Lee's  army,  dimin- 
ished to  thirty-three  thousand  men,  was  stretched 
along  a  line  forty  miles  in  extent;  and  Grant  con- 
fronted this  feeble  line  with  not  less  than  a  hundred 
and  sixty  thousand.  That  General  Lee  should  have 
succeeded  so  long  in  keeping  this  host  at  bay,  is  a 
proof  of  his  consummate  genius.  Swinton  says  of 
these  operations  around  Petersburg: 

"  The  success  of  the  Confederate  tactics  was 
wonderful.  Each  movement,  saving  that  of  the 
Wcldon  Railroad,  which  was  conducted  on  a  differ- 
ent principle,  ending  in  a  check,  generally  accom- 
panied by  one  or  more  thousand  prisoners.  The 
aggregate  of  captures  made  by  the  enemy  in  these 
successive  swoops  is  astonishing." 

In  February,  the  last  of  these  movements  was 
made  by  Grant,  in  which  he  established  himself  on 
Hatcher's  Run.  A  fight  took  place  between  the 
Federal  troops  and  Hill's  and  Gordon's  corps. 

On  the  6th,  Pegram's  division  was  hotly  engaged. 

"The  battle  was  obstinately  contested  for  several 
hours;    but    General    Pegram    being   killed    while 
bravely  encouraging  his  men,  and  Colonel  Hoffman 
24* 


282  A    POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1865. 

wounded,  sonic  confusion  occurred,  and  the  division 
was  pressed  back  to  its  original  position.  Evan's 
division,  ordered  by  General  Gordon  to  support 
Pegram's,  charged  the  enemy  and  forced  him  back, 
but  was  in  turn  compelled  to  retire.  Mahone's  di- 
vision arriving,  the  enemy  was  driven  rapidly  to  his 
defences  on  Hatcher's  Run."  * 

The  Federal  loss  was  two  thousand  men  ;  the  Con- 
federate loss,  one  thousand.  General  Grant  had 
extended  his  lines  two  or  three  miles,  but  had  ad- 
vanced no  nearer  to  the  South  Side  Road.  Indeed, 
as  pointed  out  by  a  Northern  historian,  all  Grant's 
movements  to  the  left,  after  reaching  the  Weldon 
Road,  had  resulted  in  carrying  him  farther  away 
from  the  object  of  these  expeditions;  "  for  Lee,  by 
thrusting  his  right  southward  along  the  Boydton 
Plank  Road,  caused  the  Union  intrenched  line  to 
run  in  the  contrary  direction  to  that  of  the  South 
Side  Railroad."  f 

A  day  or  two  after  this  affair,  General  Lee  re- 
ceived his  appointment  as  Commander -in -Chief, 
which  had  at  length  passed  the  House.  With  char- 
acteristic modesty,  he  rather  shunned  than  courted 
a  position  of  such  high  responsibility.  His  rela- 
tions also  with  the  President,  always  of  the  most 
friendly  nature,  made  him  hesitate  to  accept  an 
office  which  might  seem  to  clash  with  the  preroga- 
tives of  the  Executive.  But  the  combined  voice  of 
rulers  and  people  had  elected  him  as  the  tried  spirit 

*  Gencrul  LCC'H  Report.  f  SWINTON. 


1865.]          GENERAL    ROBERT    E.  LEE.  283 

best  fitted  to  deliver  them  from  the  perils  fast  clos- 
ing in  on  every  side.  He  could  not  refuse;  but 
the  confidence  came  too  late. 

About  this  time,  the  result  of  the  conference  be- 
tween the  Peace  Commissioners  at  Fortress  Monroe 
became  known.  •  President  Davis  had  made  "  Inde- 
pendence" the  basis  upon  which  alone  peace  could 
be  established.  Popular  indignation  was  roused  to 
the  utmost  when  the  humiliating  proposals  of  the 
enemy  were  made  known.  Mass  meetings  in  Rich- 
mond attested  the  spirit  and  resolution  of  the  people, 
stung  to  new  exertions  by  the  thought  of  what  fail- 
ure would  bring  to  them.  Patriotic  resolutions 
from  the  army  were  sent  to  the  daily  papers,  in 
which  they  declared  their  determination  to  "  con- 
secrate anew  "  their  lives  and  fortunes  to  the  sacred 
cause  for  which  they  had  battled  so  long. 

"  There  is  a  profound  and  powerful  spring  of 
revivified  passion,  wrath,  and  resolve  in  our  Con- 
federate people,"  says  the  "  Examiner."  "  The 
high  and  keen  military  spirit  of  the  war's  first  year 
flames  up  again;  and  that  tide  is  rising  which, 
taken  at  the  flood,  leads  on  to  fortune."  The  spirit 
was  there  indeed,  but  how  to  utilize  it  to  the  great 
end  in  view  ? 

General  Lee  needed  more  men.  But  if  the  Gov- 
ernment could  with  difficulty  sustain  those  already 
in  the  field,  how  arm  and  equip  new  levies?  how 
feed  them  ?  The  proposal  to  use  negro  troops  had 


284  A   POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1865. 

met  with  great  opposition  in  the  early  part  of  the 
war  hy  the  people  generally.  But  on  the  failure  of 
the  conscription,  which  it  had  been  estimated  would 
put  four  hundred  thousand  troops  in  the  service,  a 
bill  was  brought  forward  in  the  House,  in  Novem- 
ber, providing  for  the  enlistment  of  negroes.  Gen- 
eral Lee  was  in  favor  of  the  measure,  and  in  Febru- 
ary wrote  a  letter  to  the  House  expressing  his  views 
on  the  subject.  In  this  communication,  he  says: 

"  I  think  the  measure  not  only  expedient,  but 
necessary.  The  enemy  will  certainly  use  them 
against  us  if  he  can  get  possession  of  them ;  and  as 
his  present  numerical  superiority  will  enable  him 
to  penetrate  many  parts  of  the  country,  I  cannot 
see  the  wisdom  of  the  policy  of  holding  them  to 
await  his  arrival,  when  we  may,  by  timely  action 
and  judicious  management,  use  them  to  arrest  his 
progress." 

He  gives  it  as  his  opinion  that  they  would  make 
good  soldiers,  if  properly  trained ;  and  adds,  "  I 
think  those  who  are  employed  should  be  freed.  It 
would  be  neither  just  nor  wise,  in  my  opinion,  to 
require  them  to  serve  as  slaves." 

The  bill,  which  passed  the  House  in  March,  too 
late  to  be  of  any  practical  use,  was  wanting  in  the 
marks  of  wisdom  and  justice  here  indicated,  as  it 
provided  for  the  use  of  slaves  at  their  master's 
option  without  freeing  them. 

In  the  latter  part  of  February,  a  correspondence 
between  General  Lee  and  General  Grant  took  place, 


1865.]  GENERAL   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  285 

arising  out  of  a  misapprehension  of  the  Federal 
General  Ord,  with  regard  to  the  suhject  of  opening 
peace  negotiations  by  means  of  a  military  conven- 
tion. But  General  Grant  professed  to  have  no 
power  to  act  except  in  matters  of  a  purely  military 
character. 

This  ended  the  last  effort  for  peace.  It  was  now 
felt  that  the  struggle  must  be  fought  out  to  the 
bitter  end.  None  dreamed  how  near  that  end  was. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

General  Lee's  Order  Assuming  Command  of  the  Confederate 
Forces  —  Fight  at  Hare's  Hill  —  At  Five  Forks  —  Last  Days  at 
Petersburg  —  Gallant  Defence  of  Fort  Gregg. 


ENERAL  LEE  having  accepted  the  new  office 
conferred  upon  him,  issued  the  following  gen- 
eral order  : 

HEADQUARTERS  CONFEDERATE  ARMY, 
February  9,  1865. 

"  GENERAL  ORDER,  No.  1. 

"  In  obedience  to  General  Order,  No.  3,  Adjutant- 
and  Inspector-General's  Office,  6th  February,  1865, 
I  assume  command  of  the  military  forces  of  the 
Confederate  States.  Deeply  impressed  with  the 
difficulties  and  responsibility  of  the  position,  and 
humbly  invoking  the  guidance  of  Almighty  God, 
I  rely  for  success  upon  the  courage  and  fortitude  of 
the  army,  sustained  by  the  patriotism  and  firmness 


286  A    POPULAR    LIFE   OF  [1865. 

of  the  people,  confident  that  their  united  efforts, 
under  the  blessing  of  Heaven,  will  secure  peace  and 
independence. 

"  The  headquarters  of  the  arm}',  to  which  all 
special  reports  and  communications  will  be  ad- 
dressed, will  be,  for  the  present,  with  the  army  of 
Northern  Virginia.  The  stated  and  regular  returns 
and  reports  of  each  army  and  department  will  be 
forwarded ,  as  heretofore,  to  the  office  of  the  Adj utant- 
and  Inspector-General. 

"  R.  E.  LEE,  General." 

A  Northern  editor,  commenting  on  this  appoint- 
ment, and  one  of  its  first  results,  —  the  evacuation 
of  Charleston,  —  writes  : 

"  It  has  been  said  that  the  rebellion  was  a  shell ; 
the  shell  is  ours,  and  while  we  hold  the  worthless 
fragments,  its  invulnerable  core,  the  great,  strong 
heart,  defies  and  baffles  us. 

"  To  one  who  truly  conceives  the  meaning  of  the 
change  of  policy  that  has  been  inaugurated  by  the 
abandonment  and  destruction  of  Charleston,  the 
shadow  of  coming  battles  looks  darker  and  more 
vast  than  ever  before.  To  one  brain,  we  know  how 
fertile  the  resources,  —  to  one  heart,  we  know  how 
firm  and  true,  —  to  one  intellect,  we  know  how 
gifted  with  martial  attributes,  —  to  one  man,  we 
know  how  capable  to  plan,  to  strike,  to  thwart,  to 
retrieve  error,  or  to  take  advantage  of  it,  the  mili- 
tary fortunes  of  the  South  have  been  confided."  * 

*  New  York  News,  Feb.  22. 


1865.]  GENERAL   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  287 

But  the  policy  here  foreshadowed  it  was  not  per- 
mitted him  to  carry  out.  Had  the  evacuation  of 
Petershurg  and  Richmond  followed  that  of 
Charleston,  the  war  would  doubtless  have  been 
prolonged  to  a  successful  issue. 

General  Lee  knew  that  the  line  he  held,  already 
so  attenuated,  could  not  be  stretched  much  farther. 
With  the  opening  of  the  spring  campaign,  Grant 
would  make  a  final  effort  to  take  the  South  Side 
Road,  and  this  lost,  all  was  lost.  General  Lee's 
plan  was  therefore  —  giving  up  these  two  cities, 
which  he  well  knew  could  not  be  much  longer  de- 
fended— to  move  his  army  into  North  Carolina,  and 
there  effect  a  junction  with  the  army  of  General 
Johnston.  With  the  two  armies  united  in  the 
interior,  a  new  lease  of  life  would  be  gained  for 
the  tottering  fabric  of  the  Confederacy.  But  the 
Government  opposed  the  views  of  the  commander- 
in-chief.  General  Lee  then  abandoned  his  intention, 
yielding  to  the  considerations  which  represented 
the  bad  moral  effect  likely  to  result  from  the  volun- 
tary surrender  of  the  Confederate  capital. 

In  the  latter  part  of  March  General  Lee  prepared 
to  assume  the  offensive.  Since  it  was  decided  to 
maintain  the  defence  of  Petersburg,  it  was  impera- 
tive that  a  bold  effort  should  be  made  to  relieve  the 
Confederate  right  from  the  heavy  pressure  upon  it, 
and  by  striking  a  blow  at  Grant  in  the  opposite 
direction,  ward  off  the  danger  that  menaced  the 


288  A    POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1865. 

Soutli  Side  Road.  An  attack  on  the  Federal  cen- 
tre, east  of  Petersburg,  would  oblige  Grant  to  draw 
in  bis  left.  A  Confederate  force  wedged  in  between 
the  two  wings  threatening  the  City  Point  Railroad, 
by  which  Grant  received  most  of  his  supplies, 
would  materially  alter  the  aspect  of  affairs.  Then, 
while  Grant  was  massing  troops  in  his  front  to  re- 
sist their  further  advance,  General  Lee  could,  in 
the  event  of  his  weakness  rendering  it  necessary, 
withdraw  his  army  silently  by  the  South  Side  Road 
and  retire  into  North  Carolina,  as  he  had  first  pro- 
posed. 

Such  was  the  daring  and  brilliant  scheme  which 
General  Lee  had  fixed  upon  to  extricate  himself 
from  the  perils  of  the  situation. 

General  Gordon  commanded  that  portion  of  the 
line  immediately  in  front  of  Petersburg,  his  force 
consisting  of  tlnce  small  divisions.  General  Long- 
street  held  the  Confederate  left,  which  extended 
north  of  the  James;  and  General  A.  P.  Hill  com- 
manded the  right,  ending  at  Hatcher's  Run. 

To  Gordon,  therefore,  fell  the  task  assigned  for 
the  25th  of  March.  The  assault  was  to  be  made  on 
Hare's  Hill,  distant  from  the  Confederate  line  less 
than  two  hundred  yards. 

Fort  Steadman,  the  first  of  the  Federal  works  at 
this  point,  was  stormed  at  daylight  by  General  Gor- 
don, with  his  three  or  four  thousand  men,  and  the 
enemy,  completely  surprised,  fell  back  before  their 


1865.]          GENERAL   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  289 

impetuous  charge,  with  the  loss  of  five  hundred 
prisoners.  The  fort  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Con- 
federates; it  only  needed  that  this  gallant  begin- 
ning should  be  supported,  to  complete  the  success 
of  the  movement.  But  this  was  not  done ;  and  the 
neighboring  forts,  opening  their  fire,  poured  their 
destructive  volleys  upon  him  from  every  side. 
General  Gordon  found  himself  surrounded,  and 
could  with  difficulty  effect  the  retreat  of  the  rem- 
nant of  his  small  force.  Two  thousand  were  dead 
or  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy. 

With  the  failure  at  Hare's  Hill  ended  the  last  ag- 
gressive movement  of  the  army  of  Northern  Vir- 
ginia. But  General  Lee  did  not  lose  confidence. 
He  had  no  thought  of  surrender,  and  awaited 
calmly  the  decisive  struggle. 

His  slow  and  cautious  adversary  had  at  first  re- 
solved to  wait  the  arrival  of  Sherman  before  risking 
a  general  attack.  But,  afraid  that  Johnston  would 
come  to  Lee's  aid  should  Sherman  leave  the  Tloan- 
oke,  he  determined  to  make  the  assault  without  fur- 
ther delay. 

A  timely  and  important  reinforcement  decided 
him  at  this  juncture.  Sheridan,  who  had  been 
directed  to  march  to  North  Carolina  to  cut  off  Gen- 
eral Lee's  retreat, —  an  event  daily  expected  by  Grant, 
—  prevented  by  the  condition  of  the  river  from 
carrying  out  this  programme,  had  brought  his  ten 
thousand  cavalry  to  operate  with  General  Grant. 
25  T 


290  A   POPULAR   LIFE  OP  [1865. 

The  Federal  army,  now  numbering  seventy  thou- 
sand men,  strong  in  the  consciousness  of  over- 
whelming numbers,  prepared  to  hurl  themselves 
against  the  thin  line  that  had  so  long  and  so  skil- 
fully parried  every  blow  hitherto  aimed  against  it. 

On  the  29th,  a  strong  column,  twenty-five  thou- 
sand men  in  all,  moved  towards  the  South  Side  Road. 
To  meet  this  movement  upon  his  right,  General  Lee 
was  forced  to  strip  his  lines  elsewhere ;  and  collect- 
ing with  difficulty  seventeen  thousand  men,  he  hur- 
ried them  forward  to  oppose  the  enemy's  advance. 

Detached  from  the  main  line  of  intrenchments, 
and  about  four  miles  further  west,  the  Confederates 
held  an  important  work.  This  point  was  known  as 
Five  Forks,  from  the  circumstance  of  several  roads 
meeting  here.  The  possession  of  Five  Forks  would 
give  the  enemy  a  great  advantage,  and  it  was  thither, 
therefore,  that  the  contest  drifted. 

Sheridan,  moving  in  advance  of  the  infantry 
column,  occupied  Dinwiddie  Court-House,  eight 
miles  south  of  Five  Forks ;  and  on  the  31st  moved 
on  towards  that  point.  Here  he  was  encountered 
by  an  infantry  force  of  the  Confederates  under 
Pickett  and  Buahrod  Johnson,  and  driven  back 
within  two  miles  of  the  Court-House. 

On  the  1st  of  April,  Sheridan,  now  joined  by 
Warren,  advanced  again  upon  Five  Forks.  The 
Confederates,  shut  up  within  their  works,  pressed 
flank  and  rear  by  the  Federal  troops,  at  length  gave 


1865.]          GENERAL   ROBERT    E.   LEE.  291 

way.  "Yet,  vital  in  all  its  parts,  what  of  the  two 
divisions  remained  still  continued  the  combat  with 
unyielding  mettle.  Tarrying  the  thrusts  of  the 
cavalry  from  the  front,  this  poor  scratch  of  a  force 
threw  back  its  left  in  a  new  and  short  crotchet  to 
meet  the  advance  of  Warren,  who  continued  to 
press  in  at  right  angles  to  the  White  Oak  Road."  * 
But  it  was  of  no  avail.  Five  Forks  was  lost,  and 
the  Confederate  right  broken  and  well-nigh  anni- 
hilated. Simultaneously  with  the  attack  on  the 
right,  the  Federal  batteries  opened  along  the  whole 
line.  "  The  days  thundered,  and  the  nights  were 
like  the  days.  From  the  White  Oak  Road  west  of 
Petersburg,  to  the  Williamsburg  Road  east  of  Rich- 
mond, cannon  glared  and  roared,  musketry  rattled, 
mortar-shell  rose,  described  their  fiery  curves  like 
flocks  of  flame-birds,  burst  and  rained  their  iron 
fragments  in  the  trenches.  The  cannoneer,  sighting 
his  gun,  fell  by  bullets  entering  the  embrasure;  the 
musketeer,  who  sank  to  sleep  in  the  trenches  for  an 
instant,  was  torn  asunder  by  the  mortar-shells,  and 
never  woke."  f  Such  were  some  of  the  horrors  of 
the  last  days  at  Petersburg.  At  dawn,  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  2d,  the  assault  began  at  different  points 
along  the  line.  A  heavy  column  was  thrown  for- 
ward on  Gordon's  position,  who  fell  back  upon  the 
inner  line  of  works,  and  there  held  his  ground 

*SWINTON:    Campaiynx  nf  the.  Army  of  the  Potomac. 
f  COOKE  :   Hammer  and  Rapier. 


292  A   POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1865. 

firmly.  On  the  right  of  Gordon,  A.  P.  Hill's  left, 
feebly  held  by  artillerists,  was  unable  to  withstand 
the  Federal  charge. 

The  enem}r,  pressing  forward,  seemed  about  to 
cut  the  Confederate  army  in  two,  and  bring  upon 
them  irretrievable  disaster. 

But  just  in  rear  of  this  part  of  the  line  were 
placed  two  fortifications,  which,  if  held,  would 
enable  General  Lee  to  bring  in  his  lines  to  the 
works  immediately  around  the  city,  and  insure  the 
safety  of  the  army. 

Both  forts  were  thinly  garrisoned.  Fort  Alex- 
ander fell  after  a  brief  though  brave  resistance. 
Fort  Gregg  was  now  the  last  hope.  The  devoted 
garrison  knew  how  much  depended  on  their  valor, 
and  resolved  to  be  not  unworthy  of  the  trust.  This 
small  force  consisted  of  a  Maryland  battery,  under 
Captain  Chew,  some  dismounted  drivers  —  Virgin- 
ians and  Louisianians  —  a  part  of  Harris's  Missis- 
sippi brigade,  with  a  few  North  Carolinians,  in  all 
two  hundred  and  fifty  men,  the  whole  commanded 
by  Captain  Chew.  The  Federals,  confident  of  an 
easy  victory,  advanced  within  fifty  yards  of  the 
fort,  when  the  Confederates  opened  upon  them 
with  a  determined  fire.  Again  and  again  they  ad- 
vance, each  time  the  noble  little  band  receiving  the 
charge  with  undiminished  valor.  Cheers  from  the 
Confederates  within  the  inner  lines  greet  each 
repulse  of  the  advancing  column ;  but  no  help  can 


1865.]  GENERAL,   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  293 

be  sent  thorn,  and  it  is  evident  they  must  at  length 
succumb.  Every  man  is  needed  at  his  post,  to  re- 
sist the  attacks  upon  the  rest  of  the  line.  But  when 
the  Federal  flag  waves  over  the  captured  fort,  the 
object  for  which  they  strove  is  accomplished.  Gen- 
eral Lee's  army  is  safe  within  the  interior  fortifica- 
tions. 

In  this  valiant  defence  of  Fort  Gregg,  out  of  two 
hundred  and  fifty,  but  thirty  men  survived.  The 
enemy's  loss  was  between  five  and  six  hundred,  two 
for  each  Confederate  killed. 

"  And  to  the  illumined  story  of  the  army  of 
Northern  Virginia,  Fort  Gregg  gave  a  fitting  con- 
clusion, an  ornament  of  glory  that  well  clasped  the 
record  of  its  deeds."* 

*Poi.r-Aiu)'s  Lost  Cause. 
25* 


294  A    POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1865. 


CHAPTER   XXXI. 

Death  of  General  A.  P.  Hill  —  Evacuation  of  Petersburg  and 
Richmond  —  The  Army  without  Rations  —  The  Consequent 
Delay  —  The  Retreat  to  North  Carolina  Cut  Off  —  Loss  of 
Ewell's  Corps  —  A  Council  of  War. 

FORT  Gregg  fell  at  7  o'clock  on  the  morning  of 
the  2d  of  April.  A  few  hours  later,  General 
Lee  had  been  reinforced  by  Longstreet,  who,  find- 
ing the  Federal  force  in  front  of  him  to  be  nothing 
more  than  a  mask,  joined  his  command  to  the  lines 
defending  Petersburg  in  time  to  check  the  enemy's 
advance.  The  Confederates  now  held  a  strong  in- 
terior line,  against  which  repeated  assaults  made 
by  the  besieging  forces  were  successively  repulsed. 
An  offensive  demonstration  was  also  made  by  a 
portion  of  General  Lee's  army,  under  A.  P.  Hill, 
the  object  of  which  was  to  recover  some  important 
ground  on  the  left.  The  attack  was  made  with 
great  spirit,  pressing  the  Federal  corps  opposing 
them  so  closely  as  to  make  it  necessary  for  them  to 
require  reinforcements;  but  the  Southern  troops 
were  at  length  compelled  to  withdraw. 

In  this  movement,  General  A.  P.  Hill  lost  his 
life.  This  gallant  officer  had  served  through  the 
entire  war  with  great  distinction. 

General  Lee  held  Petersburg  when  night  closed 
in.  But  as  the  Federal  forces  occupied  all  the 


1865.]  GENERAL   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  295 

country  south  of  the  Appornattox  to  the  South  Side 
Road,  it  was  ahsolutely  necessary  to  evacuate  the 
city.  Notice  was  forwarded  to  Richmond  of  the 
intended  retreat. 

The  tobacco  and  cotton  stored  in  the  warehouses 
of  Petersburg  were  consigned  to  the  flames;  and 
every  preparation  being  completed,  the  army  silent- 
ly withdrew  under  cover  of  the  darkness,  and 
marching  by  the  north  bank  of  the  Appornattox, 
had,  by  the  morning  of  the  3d,  advanced  seventeen 
miles  on  their  route.  Augmented  by  the  troops 
that  had  held  the  line  of  the  James,  and  Swell's 
command  from  Richmond,  the  army  now  amounted 
to  twenty  thousand  men.  The  soldiers  were  in  fine 
spirits. 

"  They  were  out  of  the  trendies  and  in  the  bud- 
ding woods.  They  were  moving,  not  massing; 
going  to  fight,  not  to  stand  a  siege  in  ditches  full 
of  mud  and  water;  and  Lee,  on  his  gray  horse,  was 
leading  them."  * 

The  Commandcr-in-Chief  was  not  less  hopeful. 
"  I  have  got  my  army  safe  out  of  its  breastworks," 
lie  is  reported  to  have  said,  "and  in  order  to  follow 
me,  the  enemy  must  abandon  his  lines,  and  can  de- 
rive no  further  benefit  from  his  railroads  or  James 
River." 

General  Lee's  object  was  to  march  by  way  of  the 

*CooKK:    Hammer  and  Rapier. 


296  A    POPULAR    LIFE   OF  [1865. 

Danville  Railroad,  cut  through  any  force  of  the 
enemy's  cavalry  that  might  be  in  his  path,  and  thus 
make  his  way  into  North  Carolina.  Grant's  cavalry 
were  at  Dinwiddie  Court-House,  and  he  had  the 
shorter  and  interior  route,  by  which,  with  diligence, 
he  might  bring  up  his  army  and  cut  off  General 
Lee's  retreat  at  Burkesville  Junction.  But  General 
Lee  rightly  concluded  that  Grant  would  divide 
his  army  to  facilitate  the  pursuit,  and  reckoned,  by 
rapid  marching,  he  could  effect  his  purpose  before 
the  Federal  infantry  could  mass  in  any  sufficient 
numbers  on  his  line  of  retreat. 

But  an  important  element  in  this  calculation  was 
the  question  of  food.  The  army  had  carried  with 
them  but  one  ration.  Orders  had  been  given  that 
a  supply  should  meet  them  at  Amelia  Court-IIouse. 
Through  a  mistake  of  the  Richmond  authorities, 
the  cars  coming  up  from  the  South  were  sent  on 
from  Amelia  Court-House,  without  unloading,  to  aid  in 
carrying  off  the  Government  property;  and  the 
supplies  upon  which  depended  the  safety  of  Lee's 
army,  were  lost  in  the  conflagration  and  confusion 
that  marked  the  expiring  hours  of  the  Confederate 
capital. 

The  brave  heart  must  now  have  faltered,  the 
bronzed  cheek  blanched,  under  this  unforeseen  and 
appalling  calamity. 

The  army  had  marched  through  mud  and  wet, 
enduring  hunger  and  fatigue  —  delayed  by  the  ris- 


1865.]  GENERAL   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  297 

ing  river,  which  must  be  crossed  to  the  south  side  — 
buoyed  up  by  the  thought  that  the  means  of  relief 
were  near  at  hand  by  which  to  gain  new  strength 
and  endurance  for  the  perilous  journey. 

When,  at  the  end  of  the  three  days'  march,  they 
struck  the  Danville  Road  at  Amelia  Court-IIouse, 
the  bitterness  of  disappointment  awaited  them.  It 
was  impossible  for  starving  men  to  march  and  fight. 
It  was  necessary  to  accept  the  dangerous  delay  thus 
forced  upon  them  —  to  break  up  a  part  of  the  forces 
into  foraging  parties,  to  procure  from  the  impover- 
ished country  around  them  what  scanty  means  of 
subsistence  could  be  had. 

This  gave  General  Grant  the  advantage  he  needed. 
General  Sheridan  with  twenty  thousand  cavalry, 
far  in  the  van  of  the  main  army,  reached  Jetersville, 
on  the  Danville  Road,  on  the  same  afternoon  that  Lee 
arrived  at  the  Court-IIouse.  On  the  following  day, 
the  5th,  he  was  joined  by  General  Meade  with  two 
corps  of  infantry.  Thus  General  Lee's  retreat  to 
North  Carolina  was  cut  off,  while  his  troops  were 
scattered  about  looking  for  bread.  The  only  course 
now  was  to  turn  off  in  a  westward  direction,  to 
Farmville,  from  whence,  retreating  to  Lynchburg, 
he  could,  in  the  fastnesses  of  the  Virginia  moun- 
tains, still  carry  on  the  war.  Just  as  Grant  was 
moving  up  his  forces  to  attack  Lee  at  Amelia  Court- 
House,  it  was  discovered  he  had  "  slipped  past "  and 
turned  off  towards  Farmville.  General  Grant  dis- 


298  A    POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1865. 

posed  his  troops  to  follow  him  :  one  column  moved 
on  the  same  route,  in  his  rear,  the  other  two  by 
parallel  lines,  north  and  south  of  the  Confederate 
line  —  while  the  Army  of  the  James,  as  it  was 
called,  having  reached  Burkesville,  sent  forward  a 
column  to  destroy  the  bridge  near  Farmville. 

So  the  "  circle  of  the  hunt  "  seemed  about  to  com- 
plete itself.  But  the  army  of  Northern  Virginia 
marched  on,  still  confident  in  the  ability  of  their 
leader,  and  despite  danger  and  hardship,  ready  to 
follow  him  through  all  vicissitudes  to  the  hoped-for 
goal. 

Sheridan  had  been  hanging  on  the  Confederate 
flank  all  along  their  way,  and  on  the  6th  struck 
the  wagon-train  at  Sailor's  Creek,  a  small  stream 
emptying  into  the  Appomattox  a  few  miles  east  of 
Farmville. 

Pickett's  division,  having  the  train  in  charge, 
was  so  sorely  pressed  that  it  was  necessary  to  send 
to  General  Kwell  for  reinforcements.  The  latter, 
promptly  bringing  up  his  corps,  began  making  his 
dispositions  to  resist  the  Federal  charge,  when  it 
was  discovered  that  Gordon's  corps,  forming  the 
rear-guard  of  the  army,  had  taken  another  route ; 
and  the  enemy  were  in  his  rear,  completely  cutting 
him  oft'.  In  the  meantime  the  Federal  infantry 
came  up,  Sheridan  advanced,  and  a  hot  strug- 
gle ensued.  General  Ewell  soon  found  himself 
surrounded;  but  notwithstanding  the  exhaustion 


1865.]         GENERAL   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  299 

of  his  men,  of  whose  condition  it  was  said, 
"  Many  of  them  were  so  worn  out  that  they  would 
drop  the  guns  which  they  had  just  loaded  or  dis- 
charged, and,  regardless  of  the  tiring,  sink  down 
upon  the  ground  and  fall  asleep,"  *  he  held  his 
ground  for  some  time,  causing  the  Federal  corps  to 
fall  hack  under  the  hot  fire  of  his  veterans,  f 

The  enemy  returning  to  the  charge,  General  Ewell 
found  himself  overpowered  hy  a  force  five  times  his 
own,  and  was  compelled  to  surrender.  This,  with 
the  loss  of  the  wagons,  —  four  hundred  in  number, 
and  sixteen  pieces  of  artillery, — was  an  irrepara- 
ble blow.  Nearly  the  whole  of  Swell's  corps,  with 
several  general  officers,  besides  General  Ewell  him- 
self, were  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy. 

It  was  evening  when  the  affair  just  narrated  had 
taken  place ;  the  Federal  forces  hurried  on  to  attack 
the  rest  of  the  army,  when  they  were  met  by  a  wall 
of  bayonets  and  cannon. 

General  Lee  had  hastened  with  a  handful  of  men 
to  erect  this  barrier  between  the  disordered  rem- 
nant of  Evvell's  corps  and  the  advancing  enemy. 

It  was  a  magnificent  spectacle,  the  grim  faces  of 
these  ragged,  half-starved  veterans,  "  lit  up  by  the 
glare  of  the  burning  wagons,  by  the  horizon  all 

*  McCABE  :   Life,  of  Lee. 

f  "  But  even  thus  environed,  these  men  showed  they  could  still 
exact  a  price  before  yielding;  and  when  an  advance  was  made  hy 
a  part  of  the  Sixth  corps,  they  delivered  so  deadly  a  fire,  that  a 
portion  of  that  veteran  line  bent  and  broke  under  it."  —  Swinton. 


300  A    POPULAR    LIFE   OF  [1865. 

flaming,  above  which  rose,  red  and  threatening,  the 
Federal  signal  rockets,  and  in  the  midst  of  all,  on 
his  iron-gray,  the  old  cavalier  Lee,  sitting  calm  and 
collected,  with  a  face  as  unmoved  as  on  some  peace- 
ful parade." 

"  Before  that  rock,  bristling  with  bayonets,  the 
Federal  wave  went  back.  Night  fell ;  and  with 
cannon  thundering  upon  the  long-drawn  line  of 
Federal  horsemen  ready  to  rush  upon  his  rear,  Lee 
continued  his  retreat,  crossing  the  river  at  Farm- 
ville,  and  making  for  Lynchburg."* 

The  Federal  column  sent  to  Farmville,  encoun- 
tering the  head  of  the  Confederate  line,  was  over- 
whelmed and  driven  buck,  the  Federal  officer  in 
charge  of  this  expedition  losing  his  life  in  the 
attack. 

When  General  Lee  had  reached  Farmville  with 
what  remained  of  his  army  —  now  reduced  to  the 
corps  of  Gordon  and  Longstreet  —  intrenchments 
were  thrown  up  for  the  night  on  the  neighboring 
heights.  That  evening  a  council  of  war  was  held 
by  some  of  the  chief  officers,  at  which  General  Lee 
was  not  present.  At  this  meeting  three  courses 
were  proposed,  between  which  it  was  necessary  to 
decide  what  seemed  most  expedient  to  be  done  :  — 
to  disband  the  forces,  and  let  them  come  together 
as  they  best  could  at  some  specified  point;  to  en- 
deavor to  cut  their  way  through  the  Federal  lines ; 

*CooKE  :   Hammer  and  Rapier. 


1865.]  GENERAL  ROBERT   E.  LEE.  301 

or  to  surrender  then  and  there.  The  first  proposi- 
tion was  rejected  as  unworthy  the  dignity  of  the 
army;  the  second  they  -regarded  as  apparently 
hopeless;  the  third  was  unwillingly  accepted  as  the 
only  alternative,  and  this  conclusion  was  communi- 
cated to  General  Lee  by  his  chief  of  artillery,  Gen- 
eral Pendleton. 

"  Surrender  !  "  he  exclaimed.  "  I  have  too  many 
good  fighting-men  for  that."  With  his  scrupulous 
sense  of  duty,  with  his  jealous  devotion  to  the 
sacred  charge  entrusted  to  him,  he  felt  that  the  mo- 
ment had  not  come  when  he  could  say,  "  I  have 
done  all  that  I  could  do ;  this  alone  is  left  to  me." 

But  the  hour  was  at  hand,  and  had  already  thrown 
its  dark  shadow  over  the  weary  remnant  of  the 
army  of  Northern  Virginia. 

An  eloquent  foreign  critic  says:  "Brilliant  as  were  General 
Lee's  earlier  triumphs,  we  believe  that  he  gave  higher  proofs  of 
genius  in  his  last  campaign,  and  that  hardly  any  of  his  victories 
were  so  honorable  to  himself  and  to  his  army  as  that  six  days' 
retreat." 
26 


302  A    POPULAR    LIFE   OF  [1865. 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 

Starvation  and  Death  —  The  Veterans  still  march  and  fight  — 
General  Grant  proposes  a  Surrender  —  Correspondence  between 
the  two  Commanders  —  Preparations  for  another  Battle — The 
White  Flag  —  The  Surrender —  Interview  between  General  Lee 
and  General  Grant. 

E  sufferings  of  the  soldiers  of  Lee  find  few 
parallels  in  history.  A  Northern  writer  has 
said:  "  One  would  have  to  seek  its  like  in  what  be- 
fell upon  the  snowy  wastes  of  Muscovy  in  1812." 
They  have  been  vividly  and  faithfully  described  in 
the  narrative  of  a  young  Englishman  who  was  with 
the  army  at  the  time. 

"  .  .  .  The  sufferings  of  the  men  from  the  pangs 
of  hunger  have  not  been  approached  in  the  military 
annals  of  the  last  fifty  years.  But  the  sufferings  of 
the  mules  and  horses  must  have  been  even  keener, 
for  the  men  assuaged  their  craving  by  plucking  the 
buds  and  twigs  of  trees  just  shooting  in  the  early 
spring;  whereas  the  grass  had  not  yet  started  from 
its  winter  sleep,  and  food  for  the  unhappy  quadru- 
peds there  was  none.  ...  It  is  easy  to  sec  that  the 
locomotion  of  an  army  in  such  a  plight  must  have 
been  slow  and  slower.  .  .  .  Upon  the  5th,  many  of 
the  mules  and  horses  ceased  to  struggle.  It  became 
necessary  to  burn  hundreds  of  wagons.  At  inter- 
vals the  enemy's  cavalry  dashed  in  and  struck  the 
interminable  train  here  or  there,  capturing  and 


1865.]          GENERAL    ROBERT   E.  LEE.  303 

burning  dozens  upon  dozens  of  wagons.  Towards 
the  evening  of  the  5th,  and  all  day  long  upon  the 
6th,  hundreds  of  men  dropped  from  exhaustion,  and 
thousands  let  fall  their  muskets  from  inability  to 
carry  them  any  farther.  The  scenes  of  the  5th,  6th, 
7th,  and  8th,  were  of  a  nature  which  can  be  appre- 
hended in  its  vivid  reality  only  by  men  who  are 
thoroughly  familiar  with  the  harrowing  details  of 
war.  Behind  and  on  either  flank  an  ubiquitous 
and  increasingly  adventurous  enem}- —  every  mud- 
hole  and  every  rise  in  the  road  choked  with  blazing 
wagons  —  the  air  filled  with  the  deafening  reports 
of  ammunition  exploding,  and  shells  bursting  when 
touched  by  the  flames  —  dense  columns  of  smoke 
ascending  to  heaven  from  the  burning  and  explod- 
ing vehicles  —  exhausted  men,  worn-out  mules  and 
horses  lying  down  side  by  side  —  gaunt  famine  glar- 
ing hopelessly  from  sunken,  lack-lustre  eyes  —  dead 
mules,  dead  horses,  dead  men  everywhere  —  death 
many  times  welcomed  as  God's  blessing  in  disguise 
—  who  can  wonder  if  many  hearts,  tried  in  the  fiery 
furnace  of  four  years'  unparalleled  suffering  and 
never  hitherto  found  wanting,  should  have  quailed 
in  presence  of  starvation,  fatigue,  sleeplessness, 
misery,  unintermitted  for  five  or  six  days,  and  cul- 
minating in  hopelessness."  * 

General  Lee,  continuing  his  retreat,  on  the  7th 
left  Farmville,  halting  his  army  four  miles  beyond. 
Orders  had  been  given  to  destroy  the  bridges  over 
the  Appomattox,  and  a  brigade  of  Gordon's  was 

*  Francis  Lnwley's  Narrative. 


304  A    POPULAR    LIFE   OF  [1865. 

left  behind  to  guard  the  crossing  while  the  order 
was  carried  out.  The  Second  Federal  corps  shortly 
coming  up,  after  a  sharp  encounter  succeeded  in 
driving  oft'  the  Confederates  and  saving  the  bridges 
almost  entire.  Following  on  in  the  rear  of  Lee's 
army  they  attacked  the  wagon-train,  and  had  cap- 
tured a  number  of  wagons,  when  Gordon,  turning 
back,  drove  them  off,  taking  two  hundred  prisoners. 

Pushing  on  in  advance,  this  Federal  corps,  under 
General  Humphreys,  finally  came  upon  General 
Lee's  whole  army,  strongly  intrenched.  Attempt- 
ing to  flank  the  Confederate  position,  deeming  it 
too  strong  to  be  attacked  in  front,  he  found  him- 
self compelled  to  send  for  reinforcements.  In  the 
meanwhile,  attacking  Lee's  left,  he  was  speedily 
repulsed,  losing  six  hundred  men  in  killed  and 
wounded.  When  reinforcements  had  arrived,  it 
was  too  late  to  make  another  attack. 

Another  instance  of  the  spirit  of  these  broken- 
down  troops  occurred  on  the  same  day,  in  which 
the  cavalry  under  Fitx-Lee,  attacked  by  six  thou- 
sand of  Sheridan's  well-appointed  force,  achieved  a 
signal  success ;  General  Gregg,  the  officer  in  com- 
mand of  the  Federal  cavalry,  being  taken  prisoner. 

General  Grant  occupied  Farmville  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  7th,  soon  after  General  Lee's  army 
moved  out.  While  at  Farmville,  he  addressed  Gen- 
eral Lee  the  following  note: 


1865.]  GENERAL,   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  305 

"  April  7,  1865. 
"  GENERAL  R.  E.  LEE,  Commanding  C.  S.  A. 

"  GENERAL  :  —  The  result  of  the  last  week  must 
convince  you  of  the  hopelessness  of  further  resist- 
ance on  the  part  of  the  Army  of  Northern  Vir- 
ginia in  this  struggle.  I  feel  that  it  is  so,  and 
regard  it  as  my  duty  to  shift  from  myself  the  re- 
sponsibility of  any  further  effusion  of  blood,  by 
asking  of  you  the  surrender  of  that  portion  of  the 
Confederate  Southern  Army  known  as  the  Army 
of  Northern  Virginia. 

"  Very  respectfully, 

"  Your  obedient  servant, 

"U.  S.  GRANT, 

"  Lieutenant-General  Commanding  Armies 
of  the  United  States." 

General  Grant  wrote  this  at  Farmville,  thinking 
General  Lee's  chances  of  escape  entirely  hopeless. 
Before  the  answer  (written  the  same  night)  was  re- 
ceived, General  Lee  had  put  a  long  night's  march 
between  his  army  and  that  of  General  Grant. 

To  which  General  Lee  immediately  responded : 

"  April  7,  1865. 

"  GENERAL  :  —  I  have  received  your  note  of  this 
day.  Though  not  entirely  of  the  opinion  you  ex- 
press as  to  the  hopelessness  of  further  resistance  on 
the  part  of  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia,  I  recip- 
rocate your  desire  to  avoid  useless  effusion  of  blood, 
and  therefore,  before  considering  your  proposition, 

26*  U 


306  A    POPULAR    LIFE   OF  [1865. 

ask  the  terms  you  will  offer  on  condition  of  its  sur- 
render. R.  E.  LEE,  General." 

"To  LIEUTENANT-GENERAL  LF.  S.  GRANT,  Command- 
ing Armies  of  the  United  States." 

To  this  General  Grant  replied  : 

"  April  8,  1865. 

"  GENERAL  :  —  Your  note  of  last  evening,  in  reply 
to  mine  of  same  date,  asking  the  condition  on 
which  I  will  accept  the  surrender  of  the  Army  of 
Northern  Virginia,  is  just  received.  In  reply,  I 
would  say  that^wrc1  being  my  great  desire,  there  is 
hut  one  condition  I  would  insist  upon,  namely: 
That  the  men  and  officers  surrendered  shall  be  dis- 
qualified for  taking  up  arms  again  against  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States  until  properly  ex- 
changed. I  will  meet  you,  or  will  designate  officers 
to  meet  any  officers  you  might  name  for  the  same 
purpose,  at  any  point  agreeable  to  you,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  arranging  definitely  the  terms  upon  which 
the  surrender  of  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia 
will  be  received. 

"  IT.  S.  GRANT,  Lientenant-General." 

"GENERAL  H.  E.  LEE." 

Meanwhile,  the  night-march  of  the  Confederates 
having  left  the  Federal  forces  very  far  behind,  it 
was  necessary  to  renew  pursuit  on  the  morning  of 
the  8th.  Lee's  retreat  was  by  the  narrow  neck  of 
land  between  the  Appomattox  and  the  James,  en- 
deavoring to  reach  Lynchburg;  and  it  was  the  aim 
of  Sheridan's  cavalry  to  intercept  him. 


1865.]  GENERAL    ROBERT   E.  LEE.  307 

Flying  a.s  lie  wrote,  General  Lee  responded  to 
General  Grant: 

"  April  8,  1865. 

"  GENERAL  :  —  I  received  at  a  late  hour  your  note 
of  to-day.  In  mine  of  yesterday,  I  did  not  intend 
to  propose  the  surrender  of  the  Army  of  Northern 
Virginia,  but  to  ask  the  terms  of  your  proposition. 
To  be  frank,  I  do  not  think  the  emergency  has  arisen  to 
call  for  the  surrender  of  this  army ;  but  as  the  resto- 
ration of  peace  should  be  the  sole  object  of  all,  I  de- 
sire to  know  whether  your  proposals  would  lead  to 
that  end.  I  cannot,  therefore,  meet  you  with  a 
view  to  surrender  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia, 
but  as  far  as  your  proposal  may  affect  the  Confed- 
erate States  forces  under  my  command,  and  tend  to 
the  restoration  of  peace,  I  should  be  pleased  to  meet 
you  at  ten  A.  M.,  to-morrow,  on  the  old  stage  road 
to  Richmond,  between  the  picket  lines  of  the  two 
armies.  R.  E.  LEE,  General. 

"  LIEUTENANT-GENERAL  GRANT." 

To  this  note   General  Grant  replied  the   next 

morning : 

"  April  9,  1865. 

"  GENERAL  : — Your  note  of  yesterday  is  received. 
I  have  no  authority  to  treat  on  the  subject  of  peace. 
The  meeting  proposed  for  ten  A.  M.,  to-day,  would 
lead  to  no  good.  I  will  state,  however,  General, 
that  I  am  equally  anxious  for  peace  with  yourself, 
and  the  whole  North  entertains  the  same  feeling. 
The  terms  upon  which  peace  can  be  had  are  well 
understood.  By  the  South  laying  down  their  arms, 


308  A   POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1865. 

they  will  hasten  that  most  desirable  event,  save 
thousands  of  human  lives,  and  hundreds  of  millions 
of  property  not  yet  destroyed.  Seriously  hoping 
that  all  our  difficulties  may  he  settled  without  the 
loss  of  another  life,  I  subscribe  myself,  &c., 

"  II.  S.  GRANT,  Lieutenant-General. 
"  GENERAL  R.  E.  LEE." 

This  reply  was  never  received  by  General  Lee. 

Sheridan's  cavalry  reached  Appomattox  Sta- 
tion, on  the  Lynchburg  Railroad,  five  miles  be- 
yond the  Court-House,  on  the  evening  of  the  8th. 
He  planted  himself  directly  in  front  of  General  Lee, 
and  captured  four  trains  loaded  with  supplies  for 
the  starving  Confederates. 

The  last  council  of  war  of  the  Army  of  Northern 
Virginia  was  now  held  between  Generals  Lee,  Lonff- 

O  O 

street,  Gordon,  and  Fitz-Lee,  and  it  was  submitted 
to  these  officers  by  General  Lee,  to  decide  what 
should  be  done.  It  was  resolved  to  attempt  to  cut 
through  Sheridan's  lines,  and  at  dawn  this  was  at- 
tempted. Of  the  proud  army  of  Virginia  there  only 
remained  about  eight  thousand  men  of  Gordon's  and 
Longstreet's  corps,  and  the  gaunt  figures  of  some 
thousands  of  unarmed  men  too  weak  to  carry  their 
muskets.  With  these  Gordon  commenced  the  at- 
tack with  such  wonderful  impetuosity  that  the 
enemy  found  themselves  forced  back  nearly  a  mile. 
At  this  moment  Sheridan  arrived  from  Appomat- 
tox Station,  followed  by  a  body  of  infantry  eighty 


1865.]  GENERAL   ROBERT   E,  LEE.  309 

thousand  strong — the  army  of  the  James;  while 
in  the  rear  of  the  Confederates,  closely  pursuing, 
came  the  army  of  the  Potomac. 

General  Lee  had  decided  that  the  attempt  must 
he  made  to  cut  their  way  through  Sheridan's  lines. 
If  they  had  only  cavalry  before  them,  it  might  be 
effected ;  if  infantry,  then  there  would  be  no  course 
but  surrender. 

After  driving  Sheridan's  troopers,  Gordon  had 
found  himself  in  front  of  the  Federal  infantry,  and 
was  himself  forced  back.  When  General  Lee 
learned  from  Gordon  that  the  enemy  were  driving 
him,  he  felt  that  an  attempt  at  further  resistance 
would  involve  the  immolation  of  his  brave  men. 

Accordingly,  just  as  Sheridan  was  about  to  charge 
upon  the  feeble  lines  in  front  of  him,  a  white  flag 
was  held  aloft,  and  at  the  same  time  the  following 
note  was  sent  from  General  Lee  to  General  Grant: 

"April  9,  1865. 

"  GENERAL  :  —  I  received  your  note  this  morning 
on  the  picket  line,  whither  I  had  come  to  meet  you 
and  ascertain  definitely  what  terms  were  embraced 
in  your  proposition  of  yesterday  with  reference  to 
the  surrender  of  this  army. 

"  I  now  request  an  interview  in  accordance  with 
the  offer  contained  in  your  letter  of  yesterday  for 
that  purpose. 

"  Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

"  R.  E.  LEE,  General." 

"To   LIEUTENANT-GENERAL    GRANT,    Commanding 
Armies  of  the  United  States." 


310  A    POPULAR   LIFE    OF  [1865. 

The  interview  was  granted  by  General  Grant,  who 

replied : 

"  April  9,  18(55. 

"  GENERAL  R.  E.  LEE,  COMMANDING  CONFEDERATE 
STATES  ARMIES  :  —  Your  note  of  this  date  is  but  this 
moment,  11.59,  A.  M.,  received. 

"  In  consequence  of  my  having  passed  from  the 
Richmond  and  Lynchburg  Road  to  the  Farmville 
and  Lynchburg  Road,  I  am,  at  this  writing,  about 
four  miles  west  of  Walter's  Church,  and  will  push 
forward  to  the  front  for  the  purpose  of  meeting 
you. 

"  Notice  sent  to  me  on  this  road  where  you  wish 
the  interview  to  take  place,  will  meet  me. 

"Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 
"  U.  S.  GRANT,  Lieutenant-General." 

At  the  house  of  Mr.  AVilmer  McLean,  in  the  vil- 
lage of  Appoinattox  Court-House,  took  place  the 
meeting  of  the  two  commanders.  General  Lee  was 
accompanied  by  his  aid  Colonel  Marshall ;  General 
Grant,  by  a  few  of  his  officers. 

General  Grant  behaved  with  great  courtesy  and 
delicacy.  General  Lee's  manner,  on  this  trying 
occasion,  is  thus  described  by  a  Federal  officer. 

"  General  Lee  looked  very  much  jaded  and  worn, 
but  nevertheless  presented  the  same  magnificent 
physique  for  which  he  has  always  been  noted.  lie 
was  neatly  dressed  in  gray  cloth,  without  embroid- 
ery or  any  insignia  of  rank,  except  three  stars  worn 
on  the  turned  portion  of  his  coat-collar.  His  cheeks 


1865.]          GENERAL   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  311 

were  very  much  bronzed  by  exposure,  but  still  shone 
ruddy  beneath  it  all.  He  is  growing  quite  bald,  and 
wears  one  of  the  side-locks  of  his  hair  thrown  across 
the  upper  portion  of  his  forehead,  which  is  as  white 
and  fair  as  a  woman's.  lie  stands  fully  six  feet  one 
in  height,  and  weighs  something  over  two  hundred 
pounds,  without  being  burdened  with  a  pound  of 
superfluous  flesh.  During  the  whole  interview  he 
was  retired  and  dignified  to  a  degree  bordering  on 
taciturnity,  but  was  free  from  all  exhibition  of  tem- 
per or  mortification.  His  demeanor  was  that  of  a 
thoroughly  possessed  gentleman  who  had  a  very 
disagreeable  duty  to  perform,  but  was  determined 
to  get  through  it  as  well  and  as  soon  as  possible." 

Seated  at  a  common  deal  table,  the  following  pa- 
pers were  exchanged : 

"ArpoMATTox  Counr-HousE,  VIRGINIA, 
"April  9,  18G5. 

"GENERAL:  —  In  accordance  with  my  letter  to 
you  of  the  8th  instant,  I  propose  to  receive  the 
surrender  of  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia  on  the 
following  terms,  to  wit :  —  Rolls  of  all  the  officers 
and  men  to  be  made  in  duplicate,  one  copy  to  be 
given  to  an  officer  to  be  designated  by  me,  the 
other  to  be  retained  by  such  officer  or  officers  as 
you  may  designate.  The  officers  to  give  their  in- 
dividual paroles  not  to  take  up  arms  against  the 
United  States  until  properly  exchanged ;  and  each 
company  or  regimental  commander  to  sign  a  like 
parole  for  the  men  of  their  commands.  The  arms, 
artillery,  and  public  property  to  be  parked  and 


312  A    POPULAR    LIFE   OF  [1865. 

stacked,  and  turned  over  to  the  officers  appointed 
by  me  to  receive  them.  This  will  not  embrace  the 
side-arms  of  the  officers,  nor  their  private  horses  or 
baggage.  This  done,  each  officer  and  man  will  be 
allowed  to  return  to  his  home,  not  to  be  disturbed 
by  United  States  authority  so  long  as  they  observe 
their  paroles  and  the  laws  in  force  where  they  may 
reside. 

"  U.  S.  GRANT,  Lieutenant-General. 
"GENERAL  R.  E.  LEE." 

"HEADQUARTERS  ARMY  OF  NORTHERN  VIRGINIA, 
"  April  9,  1865. 

"  GENERAL  :  —  I  have  received  your  letter  of  this 
date  containing  the  terms  of  the  surrender  of  the 
Army  of  Northern  Virginia  as  proposed  by  you.  As 
they  are  substantially  the  same  as  those  expressed 
in  your  letter  of  the  8th  instant,  they  are  accepted. 
I  will  proceed  to  designate  the  proper  officers  to 
carry  the  stipulations  into  effect. 

"R.  E.  LEE,  General. 

"LIEUTENANT-GENERAL  U.  S.  GRANT." 

Commissioners  were  appointed  on  both  sides  to 
carry  out  the  details  of  the  surrender.  Thus  passed 
out  of  existence  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia. 
The  able  and  candid  historian  of  the  "Army  of  the 
Potomac,"  in  speaking  of  the  achievements  of  the 
latter,  adds  these  words,  which  may  be  accepted  as 
a  not  unworthy  epitaph  from  a  generous  enemy : 

"  Nor  can  there  fail  to  arise  the  image  of  that 


1865.]  GENERAL,    ROBERT    E.LEE.  313 

other  army  that  was  the  adversary  of  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac,  and  which — who  can  ever  forget  that 
once  looked  upon  it? — that  array  of  "tattered 
uniforms  and  h right  muskets;"  that  body  of  in- 
comparable infantry,  the  Army  of  Xorthern  Vir- 
ginia, which  for  years  carried  the  revolt  on  its 
bayonets,  opposing  a  constant  front  to  the  mighty 
concentration  of  power  brought  against  it,  which, 
receiving  terrible  blows,  did  not  fail  to  give  the 
like,  and  which,  vital  in  all  its  parts,  died  only  with 
its  annihilation." 


CHAPTER    XXXIII. 

The  Last  Hours  of  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia  —  The  Night 
of  Peace  —  General  Lee's  Farewell  to  his  Army  —  His  Recep- 
tion in  Richmond  —  His  Retired  Life  —  Testimonials  of  Affec- 
tion and  Esteem  —  His  Noble  Bearing  in  Adversity. 

WHEN  what  had  taken  place  became  known  to 
the  army,  whole  lines  broke  ranks,  and  rush- 
ing up  to  their  beloved  commander,  sobbed  out 
words  of  comfort  and  affection,  striving,  with  "a 
refinement  of  unselfishness  and  tenderness  which 
he  alone  could  fully  appreciate,  to  lighten  his  bur- 
den, and  mitigate  his  pain,  and  struggling  to  take 
him  once  more  by  the  hand."  In  a  voice  broken  by 
emotion,  General  Lee  said :  "  Men,  we  have  fought 
through  the  war  together.  I  have  done  the  beat  I 
could  for  von.  Mv  heart  is  too  lull  to  sav  more." 


314  A    POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1865. 

One  of  his  officers  *  who  was  with  him  to  the 
end,  thus  speaks  of  this  scene : 

"  I  can  never  forget  the  deferential  homage  paid 
this  great  citizen  by  even  the  Federal  soldiers,  as 
with  uncovered  heads  they  contemplated  in  mute 
admiration  this  now  captive  hero  as  he  rode  through 
their  ranks.  Impressed  forever,  daguerrcotyped  on 
my  heart,  is  that  last  parting-scene  with  that  hand- 
ful of  heroes  still  crowding  around  him.  Few  in- 
deed were  the  words  spoken ;  hut  the  quivering 
lip,  and  the  tearful  eye,  told  of  the  love  they  bore 
him,  in  symphonies  more  eloquent  than  any  lan- 
guage." 

He  is  reported  to  have  said  to  an  officer  standing 
by  when  the  surrender  was  resolved  upon  :  "  How 
easily  I  could  get  rid  of  all  this  and  be  at  rest.  I 
have  only  to  ride  along  the  lines  and  all  will  be 
over."  He  then  added,  with  a  sigh,  "  But  it  is  our 
duty  to  live.  What  will  become  of  the  women  and 
children  of  the  South,  if  we  are  not  here  to  protect 
them  ? " 

The  victors  were  kind  and  magnanimous.  No 
bands  played ;  no  cheers  were  heard  save  from 
some  far  off  division  who  did  not  know  exactly 
what  was  passing;  and  these  were  apologized  for  by 
one  of  the  officers. 

"  As  the  armies  were  enemies  no  longer,  there 

*  (junoral  (iurilon. 


1865.]  GENERAL   ROBERT    E.  LEE.  315 

was  no  need  of  martial  array  that  night,  nor  fear 
of  surprise,  nor  call  to  arms;  but  hostile  devise- 
mcnt  gave  place  to  mutual  helpfulness,  and  the 
victors  shared  their  rations  with  the  famished  van- 
quished. In  that  supreme  moment,  these  men 
knew  and  respected  each  other.  If  the  one  army 
drank  the  joy  of  victory,  and  the  other  the  bitter 
draught  of  defeat,  it  was  a  joy  moderated  by  the 
recollection  of  the  cost  at  which  it  had  been  pur- 
chased, and  a  defeat  mollified  by  the  consciousness 
of  many  triumphs. 

"  If  at  length  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia 
fell  before  the  massive  power  of  the  North,  yet 
what  vitality  had  it  shown  !  JIow  terrible  had  been 
the  struggle !  How  many  hundreds  of  brave  men 
had  fallen  before  that  result  could  be  achieved  !  "  * 


On  the  day  after  the  capitulation,  General  Lee 
sued  tl 
soldiers : 


issued  the   following  farewell   address  to  his   old 


"HEADQUARTERS  ARMY  OF  NORTHERN  VIRGINIA, 
"  April  10,  1865. 

"  GENERAL  ORDER,  No.  9. 

"  VETERANS  OF  THE  ARMY  OF  NORTHERN  VIRGINIA  : 
After  four  years  of  arduous  service,  marked  by 
unsurpassed  courage  and  fortitude,  the  army  of 
Northern  Virginia  has  been  compelled  to  yield  to 
overwhelming  numbers  and  resources. 

"  I  need  not  tell  the  survivors  of  so  many  hard- 
fought  battles,  who  have  remained  steadfast  to  the 

*  SWINTON  :  Army  of  the  Potomac. 


316  A    POPULAR    LIFE   OF  [1865. 

last,  that  I  have  consented  to  this  result  from  no 
distrust  of  them ;  but,  feeling  that  valor  and  devo- 
tion could  accomplish  nothing  that  could  compen- 
sate for  the  loss  that  would  have  attended  the  con- 
tinuation of  the  contest,  I  have  determined  to  avoid 
the  useless  sacrifice  of  those  whose  past  services 
have  endeared  them  to  their  countrymen. 

"  By  the  terms  of  agreement,  officers  and  men 
can  return  to  their  homes  and  remain  there  until 
exchanged. 

"  You  will  take  with  you  the  satisfaction  that  pro- 
ceeds from  the  consciousness  of  duty  faithfully  per- 
formed ;  and  I  earnestly  pray  that  a  merciful  God 
will  extend  to  you  His  blessing  and  protection. 

"  With  an  unceasing  admiration  of  your  con- 
stancy and  devotion  to  your  country,  and  a  grateful 
remembrance  of  your  kindness  and  generous  con- 
sideration of  myself,  I  bid  you,  soldiers,  an  affec- 
tionate farewell.  R.  E.  LEE,  General." 

On  the  12th  April,  the  Army  of  Northern  Vir- 
ginia made  their  last  sad  march  to  Appomattox 
Conrt-IIousc,  where  they  laid  down  their  arms  and 
the  colors  under  which  they  had  fought  so  well. 

Less  than  eight  thousand  men  with  arms  surren- 
dered, but  the  capitulation  included  about  eighteen 
thousand  unarmed  stragglers.  Major-General  Gib- 
bon received  the  surrender,  General  Grant,  with 
great  delicacy,  remaining  at  his  quarters. 

General  Lee  had  already  departed  for  Richmond, 
and  escorted  by  a  detachment  of  Federal  cavalry  and 


18G5.] 


GENERAL    ROBEKT    E.  LEE. 


317 


accompanied  by  tlic  officers  of  his  staff,  he  reached 
there  on  the  evening  of  the  1'Jth.  All  along  his 
route,  the  people  were  looking  for  him,  and  from 
out  their  little  stores  the  best  was  prepared  for  his 
refreshment. 

Coming  in  sight  of  Richmond,  he  left  his  escort, 


GENERAL  LEE  ENTERING  RICHMOND  AFTER  TIIC  SURRENDER. 

and  attended  by  a  few  officers,  and  followed  by  the 
little  old  ambulance  which   had  accompanied  him 


27* 


318  A    POPULAR    LIFE   OF  [1865. 

in  all  his  campaigns,  ho  entered  the  desolate  and 
ruined  city.  In  a  moment  he  was  recognized. 
Men,  women,  and  children  shouted  and  waved  him 
a  welcome.  Even  the  United  States  soldiers 
crowded  around  his  door  and  raised  their  hats  to 
salute  him.  Tt  was  with  difficulty  he  could  dis- 
mount. Men  kissed  his  feet,  and  arms  were 
thrown  about  the  neck  of  the  faithful  "  Traveller  " 
who  had  borne  him  unharmed  through  so  many 
dangers. 

Struggling  with  his  emotion,  General  Lee  at 
length  disengaged  himself,  and  lifting  his  hat  again 
and  again  to  the  crowd,  took  shelter  within  his  own 
house. 

Here  he  remained  closely  secluded,  going  out 
only  after  night,  so  as  to  avoid  those  demonstra- 
tions from  the  people  so  painful  to  his  feelings,  and 
which  he  knew  would  provoke  censure  from  those 
inimical  to  him. 

During  this  time  he  received  the  following  letter 
from  one  of  his  old  soldiers  : 

"  DEAR  GENERAL  :  —  We  have  been  lighting  hard 
for  four  years,  and  now  the  Yankees  have  got  us  in 
Libby  Prison.  They  are  treating  us  awful  bad. 
The  boys  want  you  to  get  us  out,  if  you  can.  But 
if  you  can't,  just  ride  by  the  Libby,  and  let  us  see 
you  and  give  you  a  good  cheer.  We  will  all  feel 
better  after  it." 


1865.]  GENERAL    ROBERT    E.  LEE.  319 

All  who  were  in  Richmond  at  this  time  must  re- 
mernher  how  his  doors  were  besieged  with  visitors 
of  every  class,  all  eager  to  do  him  honor,  —  how  the 
Northern  tourists,  who  came  "  on  to  Richmond " 
by  the  "  round  trip,''  to  see  the  rebellious  city 
which  had  cost  so  dear,  lingered  by  his  door  in 
hopes  to  catch  sight  of  the  fallen  hero ;  many,  actu- 
ated by  curiosity  or  interest,  even  penetrating  into 
the  privacy  of  his  house.  He  received  most  kindly 
deputations  of  Federal  officers  who  called  to  evince 
their  appreciation  of  his  character  and  their  good 
feelings  towards  him,  and  every  steamer  which  de- 
livered its  burden  of  returned  prisoners  sent  a  rag- 
ged and  miserable  deputation  to  look  again  upon 
the  features  of  their  beloved  commander,  before  re- 
turning to  their  ruined  homes.  Many  a  touching 
scene  occurred  with  these,  showing  the  simplicity 
and  devotion  of  these  poor  fellows. 

General  Lee  often  spoke  of  the  pain  caused  him 
by  these  interviews,  and  how  impossible  it  was  to 
decline  them. 

One  day,  being  called  down  to  see  some  gentle- 
men, he  found  two  of  these  "  ragged  rebs"  in  the 
passage,  who  advanced  to  him  with  the  military 
salute,  and  immediately  commenced  to  tell  that 
they  were  sent  as  ambassadors  by  some  fellows 
"  round  the  corner,"  but  who  were  too  badly  dressed 
to  present  themselves.  They  came  on  the  part  of 
one  hundred  of  the  "boys"  just  returned  from  the 


320  A    POPULAR    LIFE   OF  [1865. 

prison  of  Point  Lookout,  to  propose  to  General 
Lee  to  go  with  them  to  the  mountains  of  Botetourt 
County,  where  they  had  five  thousand  acres  among 
them.  They  ottered  him  a,  plantation,  which  they 
would  stock  and  work  for  him ;  and  these  hun- 
dred men  had  handed  together  to  protect  him  from 
arrest.  "  Come  with  us,"  they  urged ;  "  not  a  whole 
army  can  take  you  from  us  there.  We  want  to 
take  care  of  you.  We  have  heard  that  our  Presi- 
dent is  captured,  and  they  threaten  you.  Come  to 
our  mountains,  where  we  will  die  in  your  defence." 
"But,"  said  the  General,  "you  would  not  have 
your  General  run  away  and  hide.  He  must  stay 
and  meet  his  fate."  And  then  he  explained  how 
the  terms  of  the  surrender  ensured  his  safety, 
and.  how  he  relied  on  General  Grant's  word.  It 
was  with  difficulty  he  could  dissuade  them  from 
their  generous  purpose.  At  length,  with  his  usual 
thoughtfulness,  he  sent  his  daughter  to  hring  down 
to  each  a  suit  of  his  own  clothing,  which  he  begged 
they  would  accept  in  remembrance  of  him  who  had 
nothing  else  to  offer,  and  as  an  assurance  of  his 
gratitude  for  their  interest  in  his  behalf.  Seizing 
the  clothing,  they  pressed  it  to  their  lips,  and  rush- 
ing to  exhibit  such  a  prize  to  their  comrades,  the 
General  was  enabled  to  escape  from  their  importu- 
nities. 

Another   day  General  Lee  was  told   a   Federal 
soldier,  an  Irishman,  was  at  the  door  with  a  basket, 


1865.]  GENERA  L    ROBERT   E.  LEE.  321 

who  wished  to  speak  to  him.  The  General  sent 
one  of  his  nephews  to  tell  the  visitor  he  was  busy, 
and  begged  he  would  excuse  him.  The  messenger 
returned,  saying  the  man  would  not  go  away,  that 
he  had  brought  General  Lee  a  present  of  something 
to  eat,  and  that  he  would  give  it  only  into  his  own 
hands.  The  General  then  sent  word  that  he  was  in 
no  want,  and  begged  that  what  was  brought  to  him 
might  be  taken  to  the  Sanitary  Commission,  for  the 
sick  soldiers.  This  the  man  positively  refused  to  do, 
and  was  so  persistent  in  his  determination  to  see 
General  Lee,  that  at  last  he  went  down,  when,  the 
generous  Irishman  dropping  his  basket,  which  con- 
tained a  ham,  cheese,  canned  fruits,  vegetables,  and 
other  luxuries,  threw  his  arms  about  the  astonished 
General,  exclaiming,  "  I  don't  think  the  less  of  you 
for  having  surrendered.  God  bless  you  for  a  true 
man  and  a  good  soldier,"  and  other  expressions  of 
affectionate  admiration.  The  General  disengaged 
himself,  and  with  many  thanks  begged  his  friend 
to  bestow  the  contents  of  his  basket  upon  his  own 
sick  comrades ;  in  vain,  so  the  gifts  were  retained 
until  the  next  day,  when  they  were  transferred  to 
the  "  Sanitary." 

There  occurred  at  this  time  another  visit  from 
one  of  these  warm-hearted  Irishmen.  lie  was  met 
at  the  door  by  a  member  of  General  Lee's  family, 
who  asked  that  the  General  might  be  excused,  as 
he  was  very  busy  writing.  "  I  know  he  is  busy," 

V 


322  A   POPULAR   LIFE  OF  [1865. 

said  the  visitor:  "  I  will  detain  him  but  one  moment.' 
I  only  want  to  take  him  by  the  hand."  At  this  in- 
stant, the  General,  passing  through  the  entry,  heard 
these  words,  and  came  forward,  offering  his  hand, 
which  was  grasped  with  intense  emotion.  "  I  have 
come  all  the  way  from  Baltimore  to  take  your  hand. 
I  have  three  sons  born  during  the  war,  Beauregard, 
Fitz-Lee,  and  Robert  Lee.  My  wife  would  never 
forgive  me  if  I  should  go  home  without  seeing  you. 
God  bless  you!"  And  with  this  outburst  he  de- 
parted. 

At  this  time,  while  smarting  under  the  mortifica- 
tion of  defeat,  no  one  ever  knew  him  to  utter  a 
word  of  bitterness  or  ill-feeling  towards  the  North- 
ern people.  Hearing  such  sentiments  uttered  by 
the  young  people  who  crowded  about  him,  he  con- 
stantly rebuked  them,  setting  an  example  of  moder- 
ation and  charity  which  it  was  impossible  for  them 
not  to  wish  to  imitate.*  He  did  everything  to 

*  The  following  anecdote  will  illustrate  this  noble  trait  of  Gen- 
eral Lee's  character :  The  day  after  the  great  battle  of  Spottsyl- 
vania  Court-House,  General  Lee  was  standing  near  his  lines,  con- 
versing with  two  of  his  officers,  one  of  whom  was  known  to  be  not 
only  a  hard  fighter  and  a  hard  swearer,  but  a  cordial  hater  of  the 
Yankee*.  After  a  silence  of  some  moments,  the  latter  officer,  look- 
ing at  the  enemy  witli  a  dark  scowl  on  his  face,  exclaimed  most 
emphatically,  "I  wish  they  were  all  dead."  General  Lee,  with 
the  grace  and  manner  peculiar  to  himself,  replied,  "  How  can  you 
eay  so,  General.  Now  I  wish  they  were  all  at  home,  attending  to 
their  own  business,  leaving  us  to  do  I  lie  same."  He  then  moved 
off,  when  the  first  speaker  waiting  until  he  was  out  of  earshot, 
turned  to  his  companion,  and  in  the  most  earnest  tones  said,  "  I 
would  not  sny  so  before  General  Lee,  but  I  wish  they  were  all 


1865.]  GENERAL    ROBERT    K.  I,  E  E .  323 

reconcile  his  people  to  their  fate,  by  bearing  his 
own  so  cheerfully.  When  he  heard  them  threaten  to 
leave  the  country  and  seek  homes  in  foreign  lands, 
he  would  remind  them  that  if  they  really  loved  the 
South,  it  was  their  duty  to  remain  and  strive  to  bind 
up  her  bleeding  wounds.  And  to  this  end  did  he 
labor,  and  to  these  young  men  did  he  devote  him- 
self from  this  time  to  his  death,  refusing  places  of 
emolument  in  several  of  the  great  cities  of  the 
North  and  South,  declining  estates  offered  him  in 
England  and  Ireland,  where  he  had  many  admir- 
ers,* nobly  replying,  "  T  am  deeply  grateful,  but  I 

dead  and  in  hell!"  When  this  "  amendment, "  to  the  wish  was 
afterwards  repeated  to  General  Lee,  in  spite  of  his  goodness,  he 
could  not  refrain  from  laughing  heartily  at  the  speech,  which 
was  so  characteristic  of  one  of  his  favorite  officers. 

*Mr.  George  Long,  of  England,  in  a  note  to  the  Second  Edition 
of  his  translation  of  the  "Thoughts  of  the  Emperor  Marcus 
Aurelius  Antoninus,"  after  disclaiming  a  dedication  inserted 
without  his  knowledge  in  the  American  reprint,  says  :  "  I  have 
never  dedicated  a  book  to  any  man,  and  if  I  dedicated  this,  I 
should  choose  the  man  whose  name  seemed  to  me  most  worthy  to 
be  joined  to  that  of  the  Roman  soldier  and  philosopher.  I  might 
dedicate  the  book  to  the  successful  General  who  is  now  President 
of  the  United  States,  with  the  hope  that  his  integrity  and  justice 
will  restore  peace  and  happiness,  so  far  as  he  can,  to  those  un- 
happy States  which  have  suffered  so  much  from  war  and  the  unre- 
lenting hostility  of  wicked  men.  But,  as  the  Roman  poet  said  : 

" '  Victrix  causa  Deis  jilacuit,  sed  victa  Cntoni ; ' 

and  if  I  dedicated  this  little  book  to  any  man,  I  would  dedicate  it 
to  him  who  led  the  Confederate  armies  against  the  powerful  in- 
vader, and  retired  from  an  unequal  contest  defeated,  but  not  dis- 
honored; to  the  noble  Virginian  soldier,  whose  talents  and  virtues 
place  him  by  the  side  of  the  best  and  wisest  man  who  sat  on  the 
throne  of  the  Imperial  Cicsars." 


324  A    POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1866. 

cannot  consent  to  desert  my  native  State  in  the  hour 
of  her  adversity.  I  must  abide  her  fortunes  and 
share  her  fate." 

He  was  heard  to  say  that  he  had  yet  a  mission  to 
fulfil  to  the  young  men  of  his  country;  arid  beauti- 
ful and  appropriate  was  it  that  those  who  had 
fought  under  his  banner  should  now  come  to  learn 
science  and  philosophy  at  his  feet. 


CHAPTER   XXXIV. 

He  is  Offered  (lie  Presidency  of  Washington  College — Letter  of 
Acceptance  —  Installation  —  Condition  of  the  College  —  His 
Earnest  Devotion  to  his  New  Duties  —  Influence  of  his  Charac- 
ter and  Example —  His  Valuable  Services  to  the  College. 

"PiUIUNG  the  summer  of  this  year,  while  General 
*J  Lee  was  with  a  friend  in  the  country,  he  re- 
ceived a  visit  from  Judge  John  W.  Brockenborough, 
Rector  of  Washington  College,  Lexington,  Virginia, 
inviting  him,  on  the  part  of  the  Trustees,  to  accept 
the  presidency  of  that  institution.  To  this  invita- 
tion General  Lee  made  the  following  reply: 

"  POWHATAN  COUNTY,  August  24,  1865. 
"GENTLEMEN:  —  I  have  delayed  for  some  days 
replying  to  your  letter  of  the  5th  instant  informing 
me  of  my  election,  by  the  board  of  Trustees,  to  the 


1865.]  GENERAL    ROBERT    E.  LEE.  325 

Presidency  of  Washington  College,  from  a  desire 
to  give  the  subject  due  consideration.  Fully  im- 
pressed with  the  responsibilities  of  the  office,  I 
have  feared  that  I  should  be  unable  to  discharge 
its  duties  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  Trustees,  or  to 
the  benefit  of  the  country.  The  proper  education 
of  youth  requires  not  only  great  ability,  but,  I  fear, 
more  strength  than  I  now  possess  ;  for  I  do  not  feel 
able  to  undergo  the  labor  of  conducting  classes  in 
regular  courses  of  instruction.  I  could  not,  there- 
fore, undertake  more  than  the  general  administra- 
tion and  supervision  of  the  institution. 

"  There  is  another  subject  which  has  caused  me 
serious  reflection,  and  is,  I  think,  worthy  of  the  con- 
sideration of  the  Board.  Being  excluded  from  the 
terms  of  amnesty  in  the  proclamation  of  the  United 
States  of  the  29th  of  May  last,  and  an  object  of  cen- 
sure to  a  portion  of  the  country,  I  have  thought  it 
probable  that  my  occupation  of  the  position  of 
president  might  draw  upon  the  college  a  feeling  of 
hostility,  and  I  should  therefore  cause  injury  to  an 
institution  which  it  would  be  my  highest  object  to 
advance. 

"  I  think  it  the  duty  of  every  citizen,  in  the  pres- 
ent condition  of  the  country,  to  do  all  in  his  power 
to  aid  in  the  restoration  of  peace  and  harmony,  and 
in  no  way  to  oppose  the  policy  of  the  State  or  gen- 
eral Government  directed  to  that  object.  It  is  par- 
ticularly incumbent  on  those  charged  with  the  in- 
struction of  the  young  to  set  them  an  example  of 
submission  to  authority,  and  I  could  not  consent  to 
be  the  cause  of  animadversion  upon  the  college. 

28 


326  A    POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1865. 

Should  you,  however,  take  a  different  view,  and 
think  that  my  services,  in  the  position  tendered  me 
by  the  Board,  will  be  advantageous  to  the  college 
and  the  country,  I  Avill  yield  to  your  judgment  and 
accept  it;  otherwise  I  must  most  respectfully  de- 
cline the  offer. 

"  Begging  you  to  express  to  the  Trustees  of  the 
college  my  heartfelt  gratitude  for  the  honor  con- 
ferred upon  me,  and  requesting  you  to  accept  my 
cordial  thanks  for  the  kind  manner  in  which  you 
have  communicated  its  decision, 

"  I  am,  gentlemen,  your  most  obedient  servant, 

"  R.  E.  LEE. 
"  MESSRS.  JOHN  W.  BROCKENBOROUGH,  Rector. 

CH.  M.  D.  REID;  ALFRED  LEYBURN;  HORATIO 
THOMSON,  D.  D. ;  BOLIVAR  CHRISTIAN;  T.  J. 
KILPATRICK,  Committee." 

His  delicate  scruples  being  overcome,  General 
Lee  accepted  the  position  pressed  upon  him,  and  on 
the  2d  of  October  was  installed  in  the  office.  The 
ceremonies  on  this  occasion  are  thus  described  by 
an  eye-witness. 

"  General  Robert  E.  Lee  was  to-day  installed  Presi- 
dent of  Washington  College.  There  was  no  pomp  or 
parade.  The  exercises  of  installation  were  the  sim- 
plest possible  —  an  exact  compliance  with  the  re- 
quired formula  of  taking  the  oath  by  the  new  presi- 
dent, and  nothing  more.  This  was  in  accordance 
with  the  special  request  of  General  Lee.  It  was 
proposed  to  have  the  installation  take  place  in  the 


1865.]  GENERAL   ROBERT   E.  I,EE.  327 

college  chapel,  to  send  invitations  far  and  wide,  to 
have  a  band  of  music  to  play  enlivening  airs,  to 
have  young  girls  robed  in  white  and  bearing  chap- 
lets  of  flowers,  to  sing  songs  of  welcome,  to  have 
congratulatory  speeches,  to  make  it  a  holiday.  That 
this  proposed  programme  was  not  carried  out  was 
a  source  of  severe  disappointment  to  many.  But 
General  Lee  had  expressed  his  wishes  contrary  to 
the  choice  and  determination  of  the  college  Trustees 

O 

and  the  multitude,  and  his  Avishes  wore  complied 
with. 

"  The  installation  took  place  at  9  A.  M.,  in  a  reci- 
tation room  of  the  college.  In  this  room  were 
seated  the  Faculty  and  the  students,  the  ministers 
of  the  town  churches,  a  magistrate,  and  the  county 
clerk ;  the  last  officials  being  necessary  to  the  cere- 
monial. General  Lee  was  ushered  into  the  room 
by  the  Board  of  Trustees.  Upon  his  entrance  and 
introduction  all  in  the  room  rose,  bowed,  and  then 
resumed  their  seats.  Prayer  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  White, 
pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  directly  followed. 
To  me  it  was  a  noticeable  fact,  and  perhaps  worthy 
of  record,  that  he  prayed  for  the  President  of  the 
United  States. 

"  Altogether,  it  was  a  most  fitting  and  impressive 
prayer. 

"  The  prayer  ended,  Judge  Brockenborough, 
chairman  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  stated  the  object 
of  their  corning  together,  to  install  General  Lee  as 
President  of  "Washington  College.  lie  felt  the 
serious  dignity  of  the  occasion,  but  it  was  a  serious- 
ness and  dignity  that  should  be  mingled  with  heart- 


328  A    POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1865. 

felt  joy  and  gladness.  Passing  a  brief  eulogy  upon 
General  Lee,  lie  congratulated  the  Board  and  Col- 
lege, and  its  present  and  future  students,  on  having 
obtained  one  so  loved,  great,  and  worthy  to  preside 
over  the  college.  General  Lee  remained  standing, 
his  arms  quietly  folded,  and  calmly  and  steadfastly 
looking  into  the  eyes  of  the  speaker.  Justice  Wil- 
liam White,  at  the  instance  of  Judge  Brockenbor- 
ough,  now  administered  the  oath  of  office  to  Gen- 
eral Lee. 

"  For  the  benefit  of  those  curious  to  know  the 
nature  of  this  new  oath,  to  which  General  Lee  has 
just  subscribed,  I  will  give  it  entire.  It  is  as  follows  : 

"  '  I  do  swear  that  I  will,  to  the  best  of  my  skill 
and  judgment,  faithfully  and  truly  discharge  the 
duties  required  of  me  by  an  Act  entitled  "  An  Act 
for  the  incorporating  the  Rector  and  Trustees  of 
Liberty  Hall  Academy,"  without  favor,  affection, 
or  partiality:  so  help  me  God.' 

"  To  this  oath  General  Lee  at  once  affixed  his 
signature,  with  the  accompanying  usual  jurat  of  the 
swearing  magistrate  appended.  The  document,  in 
the  form  stated,  was  handed  to  the  comity  clerk  for 
safe  and  perpetual  custodianship,  and  at  the  same 
time  the  keys  of  the  college  were  given  up  by  the 
Rector  into  the  keeping  of  the  new  President, 

"A  congratulatory  shaking  of  hands  followed, 
and  wound  up  the  day's  brief  but  pleasing,  impres- 
sive, and  memorable  ceremonial.  President  Lee 
and  those  of  the  Trustees  present,  with  the  Faculty, 
now  passed  into  the  room  set  apart  for  the  use  of 
the  President  —  a  good-si/ed  room,  newly  and  very 
tastefully  furnished. 


1865.]  GENERAL    ROBERT    E.  LEE.  329 

"  General  Lee  was  dressed  in  a  plain  but  elegant 
suit  of  gray.  His  appearance  indicated  the  enjoy- 
ment of  good  health  —  better,  I  should  say,  than 
when  he  surrendered  his  army  at  Appomattox 
Court-IIouse,  the  first  and  only  occasion  before  the 
present,  of  my  having  seen  him." 

There  was  nothing  to  tempt  ambition  in  this 
position,  still  less  did  it  promise  to  secure  to  Gen- 
eral Lee  that  ease  and  repose  which  his  wearied 
mind  and  body  must  have  coveted. 

The  war  had  left  the  college  a  wreck;  — its  library 
robbed,  the  buildings  torn  and  defaced;  the  Faculty, 
few  in  number,  were  disorganized  and  dispirited, 
and  its  endowment  was  so  small  that  it  was  doubt- 
ful if  the  institution  could  be  put  in  condition  to 
receive  students.  But  these  difficulties,  which  would 
have  discouraged  another,  only  stimulated  General 
Lee's  ardor  to  enter  a  field  which  promised  a  life 
of  labor  and  usefulness. 

"  The  same  high  principle  of  action  that  had 
characterized  his  conduct  in  the  gravest  crisis  of 
public  affairs  marked  his  decision  here ;  and  here, 
as  ever,  duty  alone  determined  his  choice."  * 

He  had  resolved  to  continue  to  labor  for  his 
country,  and  here  was  a  sphere  opened  to  him,  un- 
congenial, it  is  true,  and  opposed  to  the  active 

*"  General  Lcc  as  a  College  President." —  University  Monthly, 
March,  1871. 

28* 


330  A    POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1865. 

habits  of  his  former  life,  but  one  in  which  he  found 
opportunity  for  great  usefulness,  and  in  which  he 
developed  an  ability  and  displayed  a  power  only 
second  to  that  which  he  had  shown  in  the  career 
for  which  nature  and  education  had  designed  him. 

The  influence  of  his  great  name  brought  contri- 
butions to  the  college  even  from  foreign  lands,  and 
students  flocked  to  him  from  all  parts  of  the  South, 
and  some  even  from  the  North,  eager  to  profit  by 
his  teaching  and  his  example. 

Although  many  offers  were  made  to  him  during 
his  residence  at  Lexington,  promising  him  ease  and 
emolument,  he  steadily  refused  to  abandon  the  task 
he  had  assumed.* 

*Soon  after  he  took  charge  of  Washington  College,  he  was  vis- 
ited by  the  agent  of  an  insurance  company,  who  offered  him  th< 
presidency  at  a  salary  often  thousand  dollars.  He  told  the  agent 
that  he  could  not  give  up  his  position  in  the  college,  and  could 
not  properly  attend  to  both.  "But,  General,"  said  the  agent, 
"we  do  not  want  you  to  discharge  any  duties.  We  simply  wish 
the  use  of  your  name;  that  will  abundantly  compensate  us." 

"  Excuse  me,  sir,"  was  the  prompt  and  decided  rejoinder.  "  I 
cannot  consent  to  receive  pay  for  services  I  do  not  render." 

He  received  many  offers  of  this  sort,  and  just  a  short  time  be- 
fore his  death,  a  large  manufacturing  company  in  New  York 
offered  him  a  salary  of  fifty  thousand  dollars  a  year  if  he  would 
become  their  president.  Hut  to  all  such  offers  he  had  the  same 
reply  —  "his  duly  in  the  college  fully  occupied  his  time,  and  he 
would  not  receive  pay  where  he  did  not  render  service." 

He  refused  to  receive  from  the  college  anything  like  so  large  a 
salary  as  they  desired  to  pay  him  ;  and  when  the  Trustees  deeded 
to  Mrs.  Lee  a  house  and  annuity  of  three  thousand  dollars,  the 
General  respectfully  declined,  on  Mrs.  Lee's  behalf,  to  accept  it. 

He  declined   all  gratuities;    and   though   a  loving  people,  for 


1865.]  GENERAL   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  331 

When  asked  by  a  friend  what  could  induce  him 
to  "undertake  that  broken-down  institution,"  — "  I 
have  a  mission  to  fulfil,"  he  replied,  and  nobly  did 
he  perform  it.  The  students  were  taught  to  regard 
him  as  their  friend,  and  his  relation  to  them  partook 
of  the  tender  watchfulness  of  a  parent.  Not  only 
was  their  intellectual  training  the  object  of  his  care- 
ful solicitude,  but  he  desired  above  all  things  their 
spiritual  welfare. 

As  a  disciplinarian,  lie  was  careful  that  no  false- 
hood or  dishonorable  conduct  should  be  overlooked. 
But,  at  the  same  time,  he  was  tolerant  of  mere 
thoughtlessness  and  the  faults  of  high-spirited  youth. 
Though  exacting  obedience  to  lawful  authority,  he 
was  cautious  in  the  administration  of  punishment, 
and  so  tender  and  mild  in  his  reproofs,  that  nothing 
was  more  dreaded  by  the  students  than  a  rebuke 
from  General  Lee.  It  has  been  said  by  one  of  the 
professors  *  that  the  whole  college  felt  his  influence, 
and  that  his  character  was  quietly  yet  irresistibly 
impressed  upon  it,  not  only  in  the  general  working 
of  all  its  departments,  but  in  all  the  details  of  each. 

"  In  the  latter  years  of  his  administration,  hardly 
a  single  case  of  serious  discipline  occurred.  We 

whom  he  had  toiled  so  heroically,  would  most  joyously  have  set- 
tled on  him  a  handsome  property,  he  preferred  to  earn  his  daily 
bread  by  his  personal  exertion,  and  to  set  to  his  people  an  ex- 
ample of  honest  industry.  —  Christian  Observer. 

*  Professor  Joynes. —  University  Monthly,  March,  1871. 


332  A   POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1865. 

doubt,  indeed,  whether  at  any  other  college  in  the 
world  so  many  young  men  could  have  been  found 
as  free  from  misconduct,  or  marked  by  as  high  a 
tone  of  feeling  and  opinion,  as  were  the  students  of 
Washington  College  during  these  latter  years  of 
General  Lee's  life." 

He  rarely  came  before  the  students  in  the  full 
dignity  of  his  official  capacity.  The  addresses 
made  on  these  occasions  wore  called  by  the  boys 
his  "  General  Orders,"  and  were  always  respected 
and  obeyed.  One  of  these  is  given  in  the  article 
from  which  we  have  quoted.* 

"  WASHINGTON  COLLEGE,  Nov.  26,  1866. 

"  The  Faculty  desire  to  call  the  attention  of  the 
students  to  the  disturbances  which  occurred  in  the 
streets  of  Lexington  on  the  nights  of  Friday  and 
Saturday  last.  They  believe  that  none  can  con- 
template them  with  pleasure,  or  can  find  any  reason- 
able grounds  for  their  justification.  These  acts  are 
said  to  have  been  committed  by  students  of  the 
College,  with  the  apparent  object  of  disturbing  the 
peace  and  quiet  of  a  town  whose  inhabitants  have 
opened  their  doors  for  their  reception  and  accom- 
modation, and  who  are  always  ready  to  administer 
to  their  comfort  and  pleasure. 

"It  requires  but  little  consideration  to  see  the 
error  of  such  conduct,  which  could  only  have  pro- 

*  "General  Lee  as  President  of  a  College." — University  Monthly, 
March,  1871. 


1865.]  GENERAL   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  333 

ceeded  from  thoughtlessness  and  a  want  of  reflec- 
tion. The  Faculty  therefore  appeal  to  the  honor 
and  self-respect  of  the  students  to  prevent  any  sim- 
ilar occurrence,  trusting  that  their  sense  of  what  is 
due  to  themselves,  their  parents,  and  the  institution 
to  which  they  belong,  AVI  11  he  more  effectual  in 
teaching  them  Avhat  is  right  and  nuinly,  than  any- 
thing they  can  say. 

"  There  is  one  consideration  connected  with  these 
disorderly  proceedings,  which  the  Faculty  Avish  to 
bring  to  your  particular  notice :  the  example  of 
your  conduct,  and  the  advantage  taken  of  it  by 
others  to  commit  outrages  for  which  you  have  to 
bear  the  blame.  They  therefore  exhort  you  to 
adopt  the  only  course  capable  of  shielding  you 
from  such  charges  —  the  effectual  prevention  of  all 
such  occurrences  in  future. 

"R.  E.  LEE, 
"  President  Washington  College." 

His  administration  of  the  duties  of  his  office  was 
most  thorough  and  laborious.  Every  part  of  the 
institution  fell  under  his  searching  eye,  and  he 
never  shrank  from  the  dryest  business  affairs  in  its 
connection.  It  was  said  of  him  that  he  gave  him- 
self to  the  duties  of  President  of  a  college  as 
heartily  and  entirely  as  if  he  had  never  knoAvn  any 
other  ambition.  To  an  old  comrade  in  arms  he 
wrote :  "  I  am  charmed  Avith  the  duties  of  civil  life." 
In  them  he  found  solace  and  relief  from  the  mem- 
ories of  the  painful  past. 


334  A  POPULAR  1,1  FE  OF  [1865. 

The  marked  ability  displayed  by  General  Lee  in 
this  office  made  it  readily  admitted  by  those  who 
saw  the  results  of  his  admirable  plans  for  the  im- 
provement of  the  college,  that,  had  he  lived  long 
enough  to  complete  them,  he  would  have  attained 
an  eminence  in  his  new  profession  as  great  as  in 
his  military  career  As  it  was,  "  he  found  the  col- 
lege," says  the  author  above  quoted,  "practically 
bankrupt,  disorganized,  deserted;  he  left  it  rich, 
strong,  and  crowded  with  students.  lie  called  into 
existence  the  schools  of  Applied  Mathematics,  and 
Engineering  and  of  Law,  as  part  of  the  collegiate 
organization,  and  later  he  submitted  to  the  Trustees 
a  plan  for  the  complete  development  of  the  scien- 
tific and  professional  departments  of  the  college, 
which  will  ever  remain  as  an  example  of  his  en- 
larged wisdom,  and  which  has  anticipated  by  many 
years,  we  fear,  the  practical  attainments  of  any 
school  in  the  country.  Had  this  been  the  profes- 
sion of  his  life,  General  Lee  would  not  have  been 
less  famous,  relatively,  among  college  presidents 
than  he  is  now  among  soldiers,"  —  an  exemplifica- 
tion of  Dr.  Johnson's  definition  of  genius  :  a  mind 
of  large  general  powers  accidentally  determined  to 
some  particular  direction. 

"  This  life  at  Washington  College,  so  devoted,  so 
earnest,  so  laborious,  so  full  of  far-reaching  plans 
and  of  wise  and  successful  effort,  was  begun  under 
the  weight  of  a  disappointment  which  might  have 


1865.]  GENERAL    ROBERT    E.  LEE.  335 

broken  any  ordinary  strength,  and  was  maintained, 
in  the  midst  of  public  and  private  misfortune,  with 
a  serene  patience  and  a  mingled  firmness  and  sweet- 
ness of  temper,  that  give  additional  brilliancy  even 
to  the  glory  of  his  former  fame.  It  was  his  high 
privilege  to  meet  alike  the  temptations  and  perils 
of  the  highest  stations  before  the  eyes  of  the  world, 
and  the  cares  and  labors  of  the  most  responsible 
duties  of  private  life  under  the  most  trying  circum- 
stances, and  to  exhibit  in  all  alike  the  qualities  of  a 
great  and  consistent  character,  founded  in  the  no- 
blest endowments,  and  sustained  by  the  loftiest 
principles  of  virtue  and  religion.  It  is  a  privilege, 
henceforth,  for  the  teachers  of  our  country,  that 
their  profession,  in  its  humble  yet  arduous  labors, 
its  great  and  its  petty  cares,  has  been  illustrated  by 
the  devotion  of  such  a  man.  It  is  an  honor  for  all 
our  colleges  that  one  of  them  is  henceforth  identi- 
fied with  the  memory  of  his  name  and  his  work. 
It  is  a  boon  for  us  all :  an  honor  to  the  country 
which  in  its  whole  length  and  breadth  will  soon  be 
proud  to  claim  his  fame ;  an  honor  to  human  na- 
ture itself,  that  this  great  character,  so  often  and  so 
severely  tried,  has  thus  approved  itself  consistent, 
serene  and  grand,  alike  in  peace  and  in  war,  in  the 
humblest  as  well  as  the  highest  offices.  Among 
the  monuments  which  shall  perpetuate  his  fame, 
not  the  least  honorable  will  be  that  which  shall 
commemorate  his  life  at  Washington  College."  * 

*  University  Monthly,  March,  1871. 


336  A    POPULAR    LIFE   OF  [1866. 


CHAPTER   XXXV. 

Summoned  before  the  Reconstruction  Committee  —  His  Testimony 
—  Letters  to  a  Friend  —  Incidents  illustrating  his  Character  — 
His  Last  Illness  —  Death  —  Funeral  Rites. 

TN"  March,  1866,  General  Lee  was  summoned  to 
-*-  Washington  by  the  Congressional  Committee 
on  Reconstruction,  with  which  summons  he  prompt- 
ly complied ;  and  it  is  difficult  to  say  whether  we 
are  most  amazed  at  the  questions  which  were  there 
submitted  to  him,  or  the  temper  and  forbearance 
with  which  he  replied  to  them.  Besides  being 
asked  the  thoughts  and  opinions  of  the  Southern 
people  on  every  point  social  and  political,  he  was 
required  to  give  his  views  of  the  position,  capacity, 
and  future  prospects  of  the  colored  race.  Among 
the  one  hundred  questions  asked,  were  the  fol- 
lowing : 

Q.  By  Mr.  Howard.  "  Do  they  (the  colored 
men)  show  a  capacity  to  obtain  knowledge  of  math- 
ematics and  the  exact  sciences?"  A.  "  I  have  no 
knowledge  on  that  subject.  I  am  merely  acquaint- 
ed with  those  who  have  learned  the  common  rudi- 
ments of  education." 

Q.  "I  wish  to  inquire  whether  you  had  any 
knowledge  of  the  cruelties  practised  toward  the 
Union  prisoners  at  Libby  Prison  and  on  Belle 
Isle?"  A.  "I  never  knew  that  any  cruelty  was 


1866.]  GENERAL    ROBERT    E.  LEE.  337 

practised,  and  I  have  no  reason  to  believe  that  it 
was  practised.  I  can  believe,  and  have  reason  to 
believe,  that  privations  may  have  been  experienced 
by  the  prisoners,  because  I  know  that  provisions 
and  .shelter  could  not  be  provided  for  them." 

Q.  "  Were  you  not  aware  that  the  prisoners  were 
dying  from  cold  and  starvation  ?  "  A.  "  I  was  not." 

Q.  "  Did  these  scenes  come  to  your  knowledge 
at  all?"  A.  "Never.  No  report,  was  ever  made 
to  me  about  them.  There  was  no  call  for  any  to  be 
made  to  me.  I  did  hear  —  it  was  mere  hearsay  — 
that  statements  had  been  made  to  the  War  Depart- 
ment, and  that  every  tiling  had  been  done  to  relieve 
them  that  could  be  done,  even  finally  so  far  as  to 
offer  to  send  them  to  some  other  points, — Charleston 
was  one  point  named, — if  they  would  be  received  by 
the  United  States  authorities  and  taken  to  their 
homes;  but  whether  this  is  true  or  not,  T  do  not 
know."  .... 

Q.  "  And  of  course  you  know  nothing  of  the 
scenes  of  cruelty  about  which  complaints  have 
been  made  at  those  places  (Andersonville  and  Sal- 
isbury)?" A.  "Nothing  in  the  world,  as  I  said 
before.  I  suppose  they  suffered  from  want  of  abil- 
ity on  the  part  of  the  Confederate  States  to  supply 
their  wants.  At  the  very  beginning  of  the  war,  I 
knew  that  there  was  suffering  of  prisoners  on  both 
sides,  but,  as  far  as  I  could,  I  did  everything  in  my 
power  to  relieve  them,  and  to  establish  the  cartel 
which  was  established." 

Q.  "  It  has  been  frequently  asserted  that  the 
Confederate!  soldiers  feel  more  kindly  towards  the 
-•>  \v 


338  A    POPULAR    LIFE   OF  [1866. 

government  of  the  United  States  than  any  other 
people  of  the  South.  What  are  your  observations 
on  that  point  ?"  A.  "  From  the  Confederate  sol- 
diers I  have  heard  no  expression  of  any  other  opin- 
ion. They  looked  upon  the  war  as  a  necessary  evil, 
and  went  through  it.  I  have  seen  them  relieve  the 
wants  of  Federal  soldiers  on  the  field.  The  orders 
always  were  that  the  whole  field  should  be  treated 
alike.  Parties  were  sent  out  to  take  the  Federal 
wounded  as  well  as  the  Confederate,  and  the  sur- 
geons were  told  to  treat  the  one  as  they  did  the 
other.  These  orders  given  by  me  were  respected 
on  every  field." 

Q.  "  Do  you  think  that  the  good  feeling  on  their 
part  toward  the  rest  of  the  people  has  continued 
since  the  close  of  the  war?  "  A.  "  I  know  nothing 
to  the  contrary.  I  made  several  efforts  to  exchange 
the  prisoners  after  the  cartel  was  suspended.  I  do 
not  know  to  this  day  which  side  took  the  initiative. 
I.  know  that  there  were  constant  complaints  on  both 
sides.  I  merely  know  it  from  public  rumors.  I 
offered  to  General  Grant  around  Richmond  that 
we  should  ourselves  exchange  all  the  prisoners  in 
our  hands.  There  was  a  communication  from  the 
Christian  Commission,  I  think,  which  reached  me 
at  Petersburg,  and  made  an  application  to  me  for  a 
passport  to  visit  all  the  prisoners  South.  My  letter 
to  them  I  suppose  they  have.  I  told  them  I  had 
not  that  authority ;  that  it  could  only  he  obtained 
from  the  War  Department  at  Richmond,  but  that 
neither  they  nor  I  could  relieve  the  suffering  of  the 
prisoners;  that  the  only  thing  to  be  done  for  them 


1866.] 


GENERAL    ROBERT    E.I-EE. 


339 


vvjiH  to  exchange  them;  and  to  show  that  I  would 
do  whatever  was  in  my  power,  I  ottered  them  to 
send  to  City  Point  all  tlie  prisoners  in  Virginia  and 
North  Carolina  over  which  my  command  extended, 
provided  they  returned  an  equal  numher  of  mine 
man  for  man.  I  reported  this  to  the  War  Depart- 
ment, and  received  for  answer  that  they  would 
place  at  my  command  all  the  prisoners  at  the  South 
if  the  proposition  was  accepted.  I  heard  nothing 
more  on  the  subject." 

He  was  also  called  as  a  witness  in  the  proposed 


QF.NF.nAi.  LEE  ANP  TRAVELLER. 


340  A     IM)FUI,AU    f. IKK    OF  [~18(»7. 

trial  of  Mr.  Davis;  and  those  were  the  only  occa- 
sions on  which  he  appeared  before  the  public  after 
the  surrender. 

The  three  following  years  he  continued  to  devote 
himself  to  his  college  duties,  with  occasional  ab- 
sences in  pursuit  of  that  health  which  now  began 
perceptibly  to  fail  him.  On  one  of  these  occasions, 
at  the  Green  Brier  White  Sulphur,  occurred  a 
scene  which  showed  the  devotion  mixed  with  awe 
with  which  he  was  regarded  by  his  old  soldiers. 
About  twenty  of  these  came  in  from  the  mountains 
to  visit  him,  many  of  them  very  roughly  dressed, 
and  some  without  coats.  They  ranged  themselves 
in  the  drawing-room  to  meet  him.  The  General 
descended,  and  shaking  hands,  greeted  them  alter- 
nately in  his  genial  way.  Not  one  spoke,  but  all 
regarded  him  with  devouring  eyes  in  which  the 
tears  glistened. 

In  Norfolk,  where  he  went  to  visit  his  old  friend 
and  physician,  Dr.  Seldcn,  a  still  more  touching  re- 
ception awaited  him.  I  To  had  written  to  beg  that 
in  consideration  of  his  being  so  unwell,  he  might  be 
suffered  to  come  and  go  unnoticed,  and  be  excused 
from  visits.  Great  care  was  taken  that  this  request 
should  be  known  and  complied  with.  Finding  no 
"committee"  at  the  station,  General  Lee  walked 
off  greatly  relieved.  Hut  what  was  his  dismay 
when  at  every  turn  a  hat  was  doffed  to  him.  Every 
man  who  met  him  uncovered.  When  he  left  church, 


1869.]  GENERAL   ROBERT    E.  LEE.  341 

the  congregation  formed  on  each  side  the  steps,  and 
as  lie  descended,  every  hat  was  lifted.  This  was 
still  more  oppressive  to  the  poor  General's  feelings, 
and  lie  hurried  away  to  escape  the  exhibition  of 
such  delicate  devotion. 

The  following  letters  were  addressed  to  Captain 
May,  of  Illinois,  Avho  kindly  interested  himself  in 
endeavoring  to  recover  for  Mrs.  Lee  the  Washing- 
ton relics  bequeathed  her  by  her  father,  which  had 
been  taken  from  Arlington. 

"LEXINGTON,  February  12,  1809. 
"...  Mrs.  Lee  has  determined  to  act  upon  your 
suggestion,  and  apply  to  President  Johnson  for 
such  of  the  relics  from  Arlington  as  are  in  the 
Patent  Office.  From  what  I  have  learned,  a  great 
many  things  formerly  belonging  to  General  AVash- 
ington,  bequeathed  to  her  by  her  father,  in  the 
shape  of  books,  furniture,  camp  equipage,  &c.,  were 
carried  away  by  individuals,  and  are  now  scattered 
over  the  land.  I  hope  the  possessors  appreciate 
them,  and  may  imitate  the  example  of  their  origi- 
nal owner,  whose  conduct  must  at  times  be  brought 
to  their  recollection  by  these  silent  monitors.  In 
this  way  they  will  accomplish  good  to  the  country." 

After  President  Johnson  had  given  his  consent  to 
the  removal  of  these  articles.  Congress  appointed  an 
investigating  committee  to  consider  the  propriety 
of  allowing  it,  and  decided  in  the  negative. 
29* 


342  A    POPULAR    LIFE   OF  [1869. 

"  LEXINGTON,  March  12,  1869. 
"Mr  DEAR  CAPTAIN. 

"  I  am  sorry  to  learn  from  }rour  letters  the  trouble 
you  have  incurred  by  your  kind  endeavors  to  have 
restored  to  Mrs.  Lee  certain  articles  taken  from 
Arlington,  and  I  particularly  regret  the  inconven- 
ience occasioned  to  yourself  and  Mr.  Browning  in 
having  been  summoned  before  the  Investigating 
Committee  of  Congress.  I  had  not  supposed  that 
the  subject  could  have  been  considered  of  such  im- 
portance, and  had  I  conceived  the  view  taken  of  it 
by  Congress,  I  should  have  dissuaded  Mrs.  Lee  from 
making  the  application.  But  I  thought  that  there 
would  not  only  have  been  no  objection  to  restoring 
to  her  family  relics  bequeathed  her  by  her  father, 
now  that  the  occasion  for  their  seizure  had  passed, 
but  that  the  Government  would  thus  be  relieved  of 
their  disposition " 

General  Lee  was  a  member  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church,  but  was  entirely  free  from  all 
sectarian  feeling. 

An  anecdote  given  by  an  officer  of  the  Engineers 
illustrates  his  truly  Christian  charity  and  moder- 
ation. 

During  the  last  sad  days  at  Petersburg,  a  soldier 
who  had  been  in  the  habit  of  asking  for  furloughs 
very  often,  sent  up  a  petition  to  General  Lee,  ask- 
ing to  go  to  Richmond  for  the  Passover,  he  being 
an  Israelite.  His  captain,  in  wrath,  indorsed  upon 
the  paper,  "  If  all  these  sorts  of  applications  are 


1869.]  GENERAL    ROBERT   E.  LEE.  343 

granted,  we  shall  soon  have  the  whole  army  turn- 
ing shaking  Quakers."  General  Lee  sent  back  the 
petition  with  a  kind  note  to  the  soldier,  regretting 
that  the  exigencies  of  the  times  prevented  his 
acceding  to  a  request  so  natural  and  proper;  and 
below  the  captain's  indorsement  he  wrote :  "  We 
should  always  have  charity  for  those  who  differ 
from  us  in  religion,  and  give  every  man  all  the  aid 
in  our  power  to  keep  to  the  requirements  of  his 
faith." 

His  delicacy  in  giving  reproofs  is  exhibited  in 
two  incidents  related  by  one  of  his  chaplains. 

Upon  one  occasion,  while  inspecting  the  lines 
near  Petersburg,  with  several  general  officers,  he 

asked  General if  a  certain  work,  which  he  had 

directed  him  to  complete  as  soon  as  possible,  had 

been  finished.  General looked  rather  confused, 

but  answered  that  it  was.  General  Lee  at  once  pro- 
posed to  ride  in  that  direction.  On  getting  to  the 
place,  it  was  found  that  no  progress  had  been  made 
on  the  work  since  General  Lee  was  last  there. 

General at  once  apologized,  and  said  that  he 

had  not  been  on  that  part  of  the  line  for  some  time, 

but  that  Captain had  told  him  that  the  work 

was  completed.  General  Lee  made  no  reply  at  the 
moment,  but  not  long  after  began  to  compliment 

General on  the  splendid  horse  he  rode.  "  Yes, 

sir,"  replied  General ,  "  he  is  a  very  fine  ani- 
mal. He  belongs  to  my  wife."  "  A  remarkably 


344  A    POPULAR   LIFE   OF  [1869. 

fine  horse,"  returned  General  Lee,  "  but  not  a  safe 

one  for  Mrs. .  He  is  too  mettlesome  by  far, 

and  you  ought  to  take  the  mettle  out  of  him  before 
you  permit  her  to  ride  him.  And  let  me  suggest, 

General ,  that  an  admirable  way  of  doing  that 

is  to  ride  him  a  good  deal  along  these  trenches"  The 

face  of  the  gallant  General turned  crimson. 

General  Lee's  eyes  twinkled  with  mischief.  No 
further  allusion  was  made  to  the  matter;  but  Gen- 
eral   adopted  the  suggestion. 

Late  one  night,  General  Lee  had  occasion  to  go 
into  a  tent  where  several  officers  were  sitting  around 
a  table,  on  which  was  a  stone  jug  and  tivo  tin  cups, 
busily  engaged  in  the  discussion  of  a  mathematical 
problem.  The  General  obtained  the  information 
he  desired,  gave  a  solution  of  the  problem,  and  re- 
tired, the  officers  hoping  that  he  had  not  noticed 
the  jug.  The  next  day  one  of  these  officers,  in 
presence  of  the  others,  related  to  General  Lee  a 
very  strange  dream  he  had  had  the  night  before. 
"  That  is  not  at  all  surprising,"  replied  the  General; 
"  when  young  gentlemen  discuss  at  midnight  math- 
ematical problems,  the  unknown  quantities  of  which 
are  a  stone  jug  and  two  tin  cups,  they  may  expect 
to  have  strange  dreams." 

A  friend,  who  had  known  General  Lee  in  his 
early  days,  tells  us  in  a  letter,  how  early  were  formed 
those  habits  of  self-restraint  and  self-denial  which 
were  so  conspicuous  in  his  character. 


J869.]  GENERAL   IJOBEKT    E.LKK.  345 

u  "\Vlicn  an  Assistant  Professor  at  West  Point,  lie 
told  me  it  was  the  custom  of  the  officers  to  meet 
just  before  dinner,  to  partake  of  some  'refresh- 
ment,' and  that  fora  time  he  found  himself  arrang- 
ing to  finish  his  round  of  business  so  as  to  meet 
this  company,  it  being  a  very  pleasant  daily  reunion. 
But  finding  after  a  while  that  he  began  to  look  to  it 
with  great  eagerness,  and  fearing  that  a  habit  might 
be  formed  which  would  prove  injurious  to  him,  he 
ceased  to  attend  the  meetings,  and  determined  never 
to  '  indulge  '  at  all." 

While  President  of  Washington  College,  Gen- 
eral Lee  was  present,  one  evening,  when  a  party  of 
gentlemen  were  discussing  some  recent  legislation 
of  Congress  upon  Southern  affairs.  They  spoke 
with  indignation  and  bitterness  of  the  unjust  and 
ungenerous  treatment  of  the  South.  General  Lee 
remained  silent;  but  when  the  conversation  was 
over,  wrote  the* following  lines  upon  a  slip  of  paper 
and  handed  them  to  the  gentlemen,  saying,  "If  a 
heathen  poet  could  write  in  this  way,  what  should 
be  the  feeling  of  a  Christian  ?  " 

"  Learn  from  yon  orient  shell  to  love  thy  foe. 
And  store  with  pcnrls  the  hand  that  brings  thee  woe. 
Free,  like  yon  rock,  from  base,  vindictive  pride, 
Emblaze  with  gems  the  wrist  that  rends  thy  side. 
Mark,  where  yon  tree  rewards  the  stony  shower 
With  fruit  nectareous  or  the  balmy  flower. 
All  nature  cries  aloud,  — Shall  man  do  less 
Than  heal  the  smitcr,  and  the  railer  bless?  " 


346  A    POPULAR    LIFE   OF  [1870. 

No  Life  of  General  Lee  would  be  complete  which 
did  not  dwell  upon  that  most  distinguishing  trait  of 
his  character,  his  unaffected  sweetness,  which  sprang 
from  the  goodness  of  his  heart.  He  was  so  tender- 
hearted, that  a  message  from  one  of  his  old  soldiers 
was  seen  to  move  him  to  tears.  And  a  gentleman 
relates  how  he  once  saw  him  in  a  railroad-car  ap- 
proach a  poor  soldier  who  in  vain  was  trying  to 
draw  his  overcoat  over  his  wounded  arm.  The 
General  rose  from  his  seat,  put  on  the  coat  as  gently 
as  a  woman  would  have  done,  and  after  speaking 
some  pleasant  words,  quietly  resumed  his  place,  the 
wounded  man  little  knowing  that  it  was  his  Gen- 
eral who  had  rendered  him  this  kindly  service. 

His  charities  were  so  private,  that  it  was  known 
only  after  his  death  how  much  he  had  given  to  the 
orphan  and  widow  and  to  different  religious  asso- 
ciations. His  last  act  was  to  attend  a  meeting  of 
the  vestry  of  his  church,  and  his  last  gift  a  contri- 
bution to  some  good  object. 

The  following,  the  last  letter  ever  penned  by  his 
hand,  has  been  kindly  furnished  by  his  friend, 
Mr.  S.  H.  Tagart,  of  Baltimore: 

"  LEXINGTON,  Va.,  Sept.  28,  1870. 
"  MY  DEAR  MR.  TAGART. 

"  Your  kind  note  of  the  26th  reached  me  this 
morning,  and  see  how  easy  it  is  'to  inveigle  me 
into  a  correspondence.'  In  fact,  when  a  man  de- 
sires to  do  a  thing,  or  when  a  tiling  gives  a  man 


1870.]         GENERAL   ROBERT   E.  LEE.  347 

pleasure,  he  requires  but  small  provocation  to  in- 
duce him  to  do  it.  Now  I  wanted  to  hear  how  you 
and  Mrs.  Tagart  were,  what  you  were  doing,  and 
how  you  had  passed  the  summer,  and  I  desired  to 
tell  you  so.  That  is  the  reason  I  write.  In  answer 
to  your  question,  I  reply  that  I  am  much  hotter.  I 
do  not  know  whether  it  is  owing  to  having  seen 
you  and  Dr.  Buckler  last  summer,  or  to  my  visit  to 
the  Hot  Springs.  Perhaps  both.  But  my  pains  are 
less,  and  my  strength  greater.  In  fact,  I  suppose 
I  am  as  well  as  I  shall  be.  I  am  still  following 
Dr.  B.'s  directions,  and  in  time  I  may  improve  still 
more.  I  expect  to  have  to  visit  Baltimore  this  fall, 
in  relation  to  the  Valley  R.  It.,  and  in  that  event  I 
hope  to  see  you,  if  you  will  permit  me.  I  am  glad 
to  hear  that  you  spent  a  pleasant  summer.  Colonel 

and  I  would  have  had  a  more  agreeable  one 

had  you  been  with  us  at  the  Hot,  and  as  everyplace 
agrees  so  well  with  Mrs.  Tagart,  I  think  she  could 
have  enjoyed  as  good  health  there  as  at  Saratoga, 
and  we  should  have  done  better. 

"  Give  my  sincere  regards  to  Mrs.  Tagart,  and 

remember  me  to  all  friends,  particularly  Mr. . 

Tell  -  -  his  brother  is  well  and  handsome,  and  I 
hope  that  he  will  study,  or  his  sweethearts  in  Balti- 
more will  not  pine  for  him  long. 

"  Captain is  well  and  busy,  and  joins  in  my 

remembrances.  Mrs.  Lee  and  my  daughters  unite 
with  me  in  messages  to  you  and  Mrs.  Tagart,  and  1 
am  most  truly  yours, 

"R.  E.  LEE. 

"  S.  II.  TAOAUT,  ESQ." 


348  A    POPULAR   LIFE   OP  [1870. 

On  the  evening  of  this  day,  28th  of  September, 
after  a  morning  of  great  fatigue,  he  attended  the 
vestry  meeting  referred  to,  returned  home,  and, 
seated  at  the  tea-table,  opened  his  lips  to  give 
thanks  to  God. 

The  family  looked  up  to  see  the  parted  lips,  but 
heard  no  sound.  With  that  last  thanksgiving  his 
great  heart  broke. 

For  many  days  his  weeping  friends  hung  over 
him,  hoping  for  a  return  of  health  and  reason,  but 
in  vain.  He  murmured  of  battles  and  sieges;  of 
guarded  tents  and  fields  just  won.  Among  his  last 
words  were  :  "•  Strike  my  tent !  Send  for  Hill !  " 
Remarkably  coincident  with  those  of  his  great 
Lieutenant,  Jackson,  whose  words  were:  "Let 
A.  P.  Hill  prepare  for  action  !  March  the  infantry 
rapidly  to  the  front !  Let  us  cross  the  river  and 
rest  under  the  shade  of  the  trees." 

At  9  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  12th  of  Octo- 
ber, the  great  soldier  breathed  his  last. 

The  following  day  his  body  was  borne  to  the 
college-chapel,  escorted  by  a  guard  of  honor  com- 
posed of  Confederate  soldiers.  Next  the  hearse  was 
led  General  Lee's  favorite  horse  "  Traveller,"  *  who 
had  borne  him  in  so  manj-  battles.  The  Trustees 
and  Faculty  of  the  college,  the  cadets  of  the  Military 
Institute,  and  the  citizens,  followed  in  procession. 

Above  the  chapel  floated  the  flag  of  Virginia 
draped  in  mourning. 

*"  Traveller  "  only  survived  his  master  a  few  months. 


1 870.]     GENERAL  ROBERT  E .  LEE.        349 

Through  this  and  the  succeeding  day,  the  body, 
covered  with  flowers,  lay  in  state,  visited  by  thou- 
sands who  came  to  look  for  the  last  time  upon  his 
noble  features. 

On  the  15th,  the  last  sad  rites  were  rendered, 
amid  the  tolling  of  bells,  the  sound  of  martial 
music,  and  the  thundering  of  artillery. 

The  students,  oflicers  and  soldiers  of  the  Confed- 
erate army,  and  about  a  thousand  persons,  assem- 
bled at  the  chapel.  A  military  escort,  with  the 
officers  of  General  Lee's  staff,  were  in  the  front. 
The  hearse  followed,  with  the  faithful  "  Traveller" 
close  behind  it.  Next  came  a  committee  of  the 
Virginia  Legislature,  with  citizens  from  all  parts  of 
the  State.  Passing  the  Military  Institute,  the  cadets 
made  the  military  salute  as  the  body  appeared, 
then  joined  the  procession,  and  escorted  it  back  to 
the  chapel. 

It  had  been  the  request  of  General  Lee  that  no 
funeral  oration  should  be  pronounced  over  his  re- 
mains. His  old  and  long-tried  friend,  the  Rev. 
Wm.  N".  Pcndleton,  simply  read  the  burial  services 
of  the  Episcopal  Church,  after  which  was  lowered 
into  a  tomb  beneath  the  chapel  all  that  was  mortal 
of  Robert  E.  Lee. 

We  cannot  better  close  this  brief  history  than  in 
the  words  of  one  of  his  Northern  admirers,*  who 
says  of  him : 

*Hon.  John  E.  Ward. 
30 


350  LIFE   OF   GENERAL    LEE.  [1870. 

"  He  lived  to  illustrate  to  the  world  how,  despite 
failure  and  defeat,  a  soldier  could  command  honor 
and  love  from  those  for  whom  he  struggled,  and 
admiration  and  respect  from  his  foes,  such  as  no 
success  had  ever  before  won  for  warrior,  prince,  or 
potentate.  And  when  his  life  was  ended,  the  whole 
population  of  the  South,  forming  one  mighty  fu- 
neral procession,  followed  him  to  his  grave.  His 
obsequies  modestly  performed  by  those  most  ten- 
derly allied  to  him,  he  sleeps  in  the  bosom  of  the 
land  he  loved  so  well.  His  spotless  fame  will 
gather  new  vigor  and  freshness  from  the  lapse  of 
time,  and  the  day  is  not  distant  when  that  fame 
will  be  claimed,  not  as  the  property  of  a  section, 
but  as  the  heritage  of  a  united  people." 


APPENDIX. 


WE  need  offer  no  apology  for  giving,  in  an  Appendix, 
a  brief  summary  of  the  history  of  Washington  Col- 
lege, now  the  Washington  and  Lee  University. 

It  is  remarkable  that  the  institution  which  enjoyed  the 
munificence  and  inherited  the  name  of  the  hero  of  the 
first  American  Revolution,  should  have  opened  its  arms 
to  receive,  in  his  retirement,  the  foremost  man  of  the 
second;  that  the  College  which  was  fostered  by  Wash- 
ington should  have  become  the  refuge  of  Lee,  and  should 
keep  as  its  rich  dowry  the  blended  names  and  memories 
of  these  two  peerless  characters. 

The  careers,  as  well  as  the  characters  of  these  two  great 
men,  offer  an  interesting  parallel.  Both  engaged  reluc- 
tantly, but  earnestly  and  from  a  strong  sense  of  duty,  in 
a  rebellion  against  an  established  government.  Both  of 
them  came  into  the  contest  at  an  age  of  matured  judg- 
ment and  ripe  experience,  enjoying  at  the  outset  the  full 
confidence  and  affection  of  their  countrymen.  Both  en- 
countered early  in  the  struggle  difficulties  and  disasters 
that  seemed  about  to  overwhelm  them,  and  yet  emerged 
from  the  "sea  of  troubles"  facile  princeps;  and  finally 
both  added  a  crown  of  civic  glory  to  the  garland  of  mili- 
tary fame,  endearing  themselves  anew  in  peace  to  those 
whom  they  had  served  so  faithfully  in  war. 

351 


352  APPENDIX. 

I. 

THE  WASHINGTON  AND  LEE  UNIVERSITY. 

The  Washington  and  Lee  University  had  its  origin 
more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  before  the  Revolu- 
tion, in  a  classical  and  mathematical  school  established 
in  Augusta  County,  in  the  year  1749.  Its  founder,  Rob- 
ert Alexander,  Master  of  Arts  from  Trinity  College, 
Dublin  University,  was  one  of  the  Scotch-Irish  emigrants 
who  had  located  in  the  Valley  of  Virginia.  It  was  to 
meet  the  wants  of  this  considerable  settlement  that  this, 
the  first  high  school  in  the  Valley  started  into  existence, 
to  be  afterwards  developed  to  the  proportions  of  a  college 
as  the  community  enlarged  and  prospered.  Founded 
by  members  of  the  Scotch  kirk,  it  was  for  a  long  while 
under  the  control  and  patronage  of  the  Presbytery  of 
Hanover,  and  during  this  period  it  was  supplied  with 
funds  through  the  annual  contributions  of  the  people. 

Its  locality  was  changed  several  times,  and  its  name 
went  through  similar  mutations.  It  was  originally  known 
as  the  "  Augusta  Academy."  After  the  first  battles  of 
the  Revolution,  it  was  patriotically  christened  "Liberty 
Hall ; "  afterwards  changed  to  "  Washington  College,"  in 
acknowledgment  of  General  Washington's  gift  to  the 
institution. 

William  Graham,  one  of  the  early  principals  of  the 
academy,  was  a  friend  and  fellow-student,  at  Princeton, 
of  General  Henry  Lee,  the  father  of  General  Robert  Lee. 
It  has  been  suggested  that  it  was  probably  through  Lee's 
influence  with  Washington,  on  behalf  of  his  friend  Gra- 
ham, that  "Liberty  Hall"  was  selected  as  the  recipient 
of  his  noble  benefaction. 

Mr.  Graham,  under  whose  able  and  zealous  administra- 


APPENDIX.  353 

tion  the  College  greatly  flourished,  introduced  the  same 
course  of  study  pursued  at  Princeton,  his  alma  mater ;  and 
the  MS.  lectures  of  the  President  of  Princeton  College 
were  copied  for  the  use  of  the  students. 

In  1782,  the  College  received  a  charter  from  the  Legis- 
lature, and  was  after  that  time  managed  by  trustees,  its 
connection  with  the  Presbytery  being  dissolved. 

Removed,  in  1785,  to  within  a  short  distance  of  Lex- 
ington, it  was,  upon  the  destruction  of  the  building  by 
fire,  in  1803,  finally  established  within  the  town  limits. 

In  1793,  General  Washington  settled  upon  the  College 
the  sum  of  $50,000,  the  proceeds  of  stock  presented  him 
by  the  State  of  Virginia  in  gratitude  for  his  services 
during  the  Revolution,  and  accepted  by  him  on  the  sole 
condition  that  it  should  be  applied  to  some  such  object. 
He  wrote,  upon  this  occasion,  to  the  Governor  of  Vir- 
ginia : 

"  After  careful  inquiries  to  ascertain  that  place  [iu  the 
upper  country*],  I  have,  upon  the  fullest  consideration 
of  all  circumstances,  destined  the  hundred  shares  in  the 
James  River  Company  to  the  use  of  Liberty  Hall  Acad- 
emy, in  Rockbridge  County." 

To  the  Board  of  Trustees  he  wrote : 

"To  promote  literature  in  this  rising  empire,  and  to 
encourage  the  arts,  have  ever  been  amongst  the  warmest 
wishes  of  my  heart ;  and  if  the  donation  which  the  gen- 
erosity of  the  Legislature  of  the  Commonwealth  has  ena- 
bled me  to  bestow  upon  Liberty  Hall  —  now,  by  your 
politeness,  called  Washington  Academy  —  is  likely  to 

*IIis  desire  was  to  endow  some  institution  "in  the  upper  part 
of  the  State,  for  the  education  of  the  children  of  the  poor,  partic- 
ularly of  such  as  have  fallen  in  defence  of  the  country." 
30*  X 


354  APPENDIX. 

prove  a  means  to  accomplish  these  ends,  it  will  contribute 
to  the  gratification  of  my  desires." 

The  "  Society  of  the  Cincinnati,"  composed  of  the  sur- 
viving officers  of  the  Revolution,  upon  dissolving  their 
association  in  1803,  anxious  to  emulate  their  leader, 
donated  the  residue  of  their  funds,  amounting  to  nearly 
$25,000,  to  the  same  institution.  In  1826,  an  old  soldier 
of  Washington,  one  of  the  Trustees  of  the  College,  John 
Robinson,  an  Irishman,  left  to  Washington  College  his 
entire  estate,  amounting,  at  the  time,  to  $75,000. 

Thus,  endowed  by  Washington  and  his  compatriots, 
and  associated  preeminently  with  Virginia's  historic  past, 
this  College  seemed  peculiarly  appropriate  as  the  scene 
of  the  closing  labors  of  him  whose  great  name,  entwined 
with  that  of  Washington,  gives  to  the  Lexington  Uni- 
versity the  title  by  which  it  will  be  known  to  posterity. 

II. 

THE  FUNERAL  OP  GENERAL  LEE. 

LEXINGTON,  VA.,  October  15,  1870. 

The  funeral  obsequies  of  General  Robert  E.  Lee  took 
place  here  to-day.  The  day  was  clear  and  pleasant,  and 
many  persons  were  present  from  a  distance  and  from 
the  surrounding  country.  Delegations  from  cities  and 
Houses  of  the  Legislature  arrived  in  the  morning  to 
attend  the  funeral.  To-day,  as  upon  the  past  three  days, 
all  business  was  suspended,  and  every  house  was  in 
mourning. 

The  National  Hotel,  churches  of  various  denomina- 
tions, the  "Gazette"  office,  and  public  buildings,  were 
draped  in  mourning,  flags  were  draped  and  at  half-mast, 
bells  were  tolled  and  minute-guns  fired  during  the  mov- 


APPENDIX.  355 

ing  of  the  procession  and  the  services  at  the  chapel.  At 
10  o'clock  the  procession  formed  into  line  under  Profes- 
sor White,  of  Washington  College,  Chief  Marshal,  aided 
by  twenty  Assistant  Marshals,  in  the  following  order: 

MUSIC. 

ESCORT  OF  HONOR,  CONSISTING  OF  OFFICERS  AND  SOLDIERS 

OF  THE  CONFEDERATE  ARMY. 

CHAPLAIN  AND  OTHER  CLERGY. 

HEARSE  AND  PALL-BEARERS. 

GENERAL  LEE'S  HORSE. 

THE  ATTENDING  PHYSICIANS. 

TRUSTEES  AND  FACULTY  OF  WASHINGTON  COLLEGE. 

DIGNITARIES  OF  THE  STATE  OF  VIRGINIA. 

VISITORS  AND  FACULTY  OF  VIRGINIA  MILITARY  INSTITUTE. 

OTHER  REPRESENTATIVE  BODIES  AND  DISTINGUISHED 

VISITORS. 
ALUMNI  OF  WASHINGTON  COLLEGE. 

CITIZENS. 

CADETS  VIRGINIA  MILITARY  INSTITUTE. 
STUDENTS  OF  WASHINGTON  COLLEGE  AS  GUARD  OF  HONOR. 

The  procession  was  halted  in  front  of  the  chapel,  when 
the  cadets  of  the  Institute  and  the  students  of  Washing- 
ton College  were  marched  through  the  College  chapel 
past  the  remains,  and  were  afterwards  drawn  up  in  two 
bodies  on  the  south  side  of  the  chapel.  The  remainder 
of  the  procession  then  proceeded  into  the  chapel  and 
were  seated  under  the  direction  of  the  marshals.  The 
gallery  and  side  blocks  were  reserved  for  ladies. 

As  the  procession  moved  off  to  a  solemn  dirge  by  the 
Institute  band,  the  bells  of  the  town  began  to  toll,  and 
the  Institute  battery  fired  minute-guns,  which  were  kept 
up  during  the  whole  exercises. 

Along  the  streets  the  buildings  were  all  appropriately 


356  APPENDIX. 

draped,  and  crowds  gathered  on  the  corners  and  in  the 
balconies  to  see  the  procession  pass.  Not  a  flag  floated 
above  the  procession,  and  nothing  was  seen  that  looked 
like  an  attempt  at  display.  The  old  soldiers  wore  their 
ordinary  citizens'  dress,  with  a  simple  black  ribbon  in 
the  lapel  of  their  coats,  and  "Traveller,"  led  by  two  old 
soldiers,  who  had  the  simple  trappings  of  mourning. 

The  Virginia  Military  Institute  was  very  beautifully 
draped,  and  from  its  turrets  hung  at  half-mast,  and 
draped  in  mourning,  the  flags  of  all  of  the  States  of  the 
late  Southern  Confederacy. 

When  the  procession  reached  the  Institute  it  passed 
the  corps  of  cadets  drawn  up  in  line,  and  a  guard  of 
honor  presented  arms  as  the  hearse  passed.  When  it 
reached  the  chapel,  where  an  immense  throng  had  assem- 
bled, the  students  and  cadets,  about  650  strong,  marched 
into  the  left  door  and  aisle  past  the  remains  and  out  by 
the  right  aisle  and  door  to  their  appropriate  place.  The 
rest  of  the  procession  then  filed  in. 

The  family,  appropriately  joined  by  Drs.  Barton  and 
Madison,  the  attending  physicians,  and  Colonels  W.  H. 
Taylor  and  C.  S.  Venanble,  members  of  General  Lee's 
staff  during  the  war,  occupied  seats  immediately  in  front 
of  the  pulpit,  and  the  clergy,  of  whom  a  number  were 
present.  The  Faculty  of  the  College  and  Faculty  of  the 
Institute  had  places  on  the  platform. 

The  coffin  was  literally  covered  with  flowers  and  ever- 
greens, while  the  front  of  the  drapery  thrown  over  it  was 
decorated  with  crosses  of  evergreen  and  immortelles. 

Rev.  Dr.  Penclleton,  the  long  intimate  personal  friend 
of  General  Lee,  his  chief  of  artillery  during  the  war,  and 
his  pastor  the  past  live  years,  read  the  beautiful  services 
of  the  Episcopal  Church.  No  sermon  was  preached,  and 


APPENDIX.  357 

nothing  said  besides  the  simple  service,  in  accordance 
with  the  known  wishes  of  General  Lee. 

After  the  funeral  services  were  concluded  in  the  chapel, 
the  body  was  removed  to  the  vault  prepared  for  its 
reception,  and  concluding  services  read  by  the  chaplain 
from  the  bank  on  the  southern  side  of  the  chapel,  in 
front  of  the  vault. 

The  pall-bearers  were:  Judge  F.  T.  Anderson,  David 

E.  Moore,  Sen.,  Trustees  of  the  College;  Commodore  M. 

F.  Maury,  Captain  J.  M.  Brooks,  Professor  W.  Preston 
Johnson,  Professor  J.  Randolph    Tucker,  Professors  of 
Washington  College;    William   L.  Prather,  Edward  P. 
Clark,  students  of  Washington   College ;    Captain  J.  C. 
Bonde,  Captain  J.  P.  Moore,  soldiers  of  the  Confederate 
States  Army;  William  G.  White  and  Joseph  G.  Steele, 
citizens  of  Lexington. 

There  was  sung,  in  the  chapel,  the  124th  hymn  of  the 
Episcopal  collection ;  and  after  the  coffin  was  lowered  into 
the  vault,  the  congregation  sang  with  fine  effect  the  grand 
old  hymn, 

"How  firm  a  foundation,  ye  saints  of  the  Lord."* 

The  vault  is  constructed  of  brick,  lined  with  cement. 
The  top  just  reaches  the  floor  of  the  library,  and  will  be 
double-capped  with  white  marble,  on  which  is  the  simple 
inscription : 

"ROBERT  EDWARD  LEE. 
"BORN  JANUARY  19rir,  1807.    DIED  OCTOBER  12TH,  1870." 

*This  was  General  Lee's  favorite  liymn. 


358  APPENDIX. 

III. 

MEMORIAL,  MEETINGS.  —  TRIBUTES  OF  RESPECT. 

In  the  numerous  meetings  held  throughout  the  country, 
to  testify  their  sense  of  this  national  bereavement,  many 
eloquent  addresses  were  made  by  the  friends  and  fellow- 
soldiers  of  the  Southern  hero.  A  number  of  these  are 
given  in  the  following  pages. 

BALTIMOKK,  MARYLAND,  October  15th* 

MEETING    AT   MASONIC   TEMPLE.  —  PRELIMINARY    RE- 
MARKS   BY    GENERAL   TRIMBLE. 

"  FELLOW-SOLDIERS  :  —  We  are  assembled  together  to 
express  our  sense  of  the  grievous  loss  which  we  have  sus- 
tained in  the  death  of  a  beloved  commander  —  a  man 
who  possessed  the  enviable  power  of  inspiring,  beyond  all 
comparison,  more  of  the  respect,  the  admiration,  and  the 
love  of  mankind  for  his  virtue,  his  genius,  and  for  his 
kindly,  generous  nature,  than  any  distinguished  charac- 
ter who  has  ever  inscribed  his  name  on  the  pages  of  his- 
tory. We  have  deemed  it  our  appropriate  privilege  to 
assemble  together  the  companions  in  arms  of  General  Lee. 
We  claim  the  right  to  feel  a  peculiar  sorrow  for  the  loss 
of  a  beloved  commander  and  friend,  and  no  one,  we  hope, 
would  deny  us  the  mournful  consolation  of  shedding  a 
soldier's  tear  over  a  soldier's  grave.  We  accord  to  all 
who  love  him  the  same  sacred  privilege.  We  could  not 
hinder  them,  if  we  would  ;  for  who  shall  forbid  the  hearts 
of  a  world  from  loving  and  mourning  for  General  liobert 
E.  Lee?  Who  shall  restrain  the  eyes  that  weep  and  the 
tears  which  fall  to  swell  the  ocean  of  a  nation's  sorrow? 

The  perfections  of  his  character  must  compel  even  the 

*  October  15th,  as  the  day  of  the  funeral,  was  generally  ob- 
served sis  a  day  of  mourning  throughout  the  South. 


APPENDIX.  359 

respect  of  his  enemies  (if,  indeed,  he  really  had  any),  and 
touch  their  hearts  with  sadness  when  the  tomb  closes  over 
him.  They  and  all  will  soon  feel  that  his  pure  name  and 
fame  confer  honor  on  our  whole  country,  and  on  the 
world  ;  for  virtues  which  tower  to  a  sublime  height  reflect 
renown  on  all  mankind.  They  belong  to  no  section  nor 
State.  They  are  the  common  heritage  and  the  common 
pride  of  humanity.  As  there  are  many  here  who  did  not 
serve  in  a  military  capacity,  but  who  sympathize  with  us 
in  the  loss  we  deplore,  we  cordially  invite  them  to  par- 
ticipate in  the  expression  of  feeling  prompted  by  love  and 
veneration  for  his  name." 

COLONEL   MARSHALL    [OF  GENERAL   LEE's   STAFF]. 

"  In  presenting  the  Resolutions  of  the  Committee,  I  can- 
not refrain  from  expressing  the  feelings  inspired  by  the 
memories  that  crowd  upon  my  mind,  when  I  reflect  that 
these  resolutions  are  intended  to  express  what  General 
Lee's  soldiers  feel  towards  General  Lee.  The  Committee 
are  fully  aware  of  their  inability  to  do  justice  to  the  sen- 
timents that  inspire  the  hearts  of  those  for  whom  they 
speak.  How  can  we  portray  in  words  the  gratitude,  the 
pride,  the  veneration,  the  anguish  that  now  fill  the  hearts 
of  those  who  shared  his  victories  and  his  reverses,  his  tri- 
umphs and  his  defeats  ?  How  can  we  tell  the  world  what 
we  can  only  feel  ourselves  ?  How  can  we  give  expression 
to  the  crowding  memories  called  forth  by  the  sad  event 
we  are  met  to  deplore  ? 

"  We  recall  him  as  he  appeared  in  the  hour  of  victory  — 
grand,  imposing,  awe-inspiring,  yet  self -forgetful  and 
humble.  We  recall  the  great  scene  of  his  triumph  when 
we  hailed  him  victor  on  many  a  bloody  field,  and  when, 
above  the  p»3ans  of  victory,  we  listened  with  reverence  to 


360  APPENDIX. 

his  voice  as  he  ascribed  '  all  glory  to  the  Lord  of  hosts, 
from  whom  all  glories  are.'  We  remember  that  grand 
magnanimity  that  never  stooped  to  pluck  those  meaner 
things  that  grow  nearest  the  earth  upon  the  tree  of  vic- 
tory, but  which,  with  eyes  turned  to  the  stars,  and  hands 
raised  towards  heaven,  gathered  the  golden  fruits  of 
mercy,  pity,  and  holy  charity,  that  ripen  on  its  top- 
most boughs,  beneath  the  approving  smile  of  the  great 
God  of  battles. 

"We  remember  the  sublime  self-abnegation  of  Chan- 
cellorsville,  when,  in  the  midst  of  his  victorious  legions, 
who,  with  the  light  of  battle  yet  on  their  faces,  hailed  him 
conqueror,  he  thought  only  of  his  great  lieutenant,  lying 
wounded  on  the  field,  and  transferred  to  him  all  the 
honor  of  that  illustrious  day.  I  will  be  pardoned,  I  am 
sure,  for  referring  to  an  incident  which  affords  to  my 
mind  a  most  striking  illustration  of  one  of  the  grandest 
features  of  his  character. 

"On  the  morning  of  May  3,  1863,  as  many  of  you  will 
remember,  the  final  assault  was  made  upon  the  Federal 
lines  at  Chanccllorsville.  General  Lee  accompanied  the 
troops  in  person,  and  as  they  emerged  from  the  fierce 
combat  they  had  waged  in  '  the  depths  of  that  tangled 
wilderness,'  driving  the  superior  forces  of  the  enemy  be- 
fore them  across  the  open  ground,  he  rode  into  their 
midst.  The  scene  is  one  that  can  never  be  effaced  from 
the  minds  of  those  who  witnessed  it.  The  troops  were 
pressing  forward  with  all  the  ardor  and  enthusiasm  of 
combat.  The  white  smoke  of  musketry  fringed  the  front 
of  the  line  of  battle,  while  the  artillery  on  the  hills  in  the 
rear  of  the  infantry  shook  the  earth  with  its  thunder,  and 
filled  the  air  with  the  wild  shrieks  of  the  shells  that 
plunged  into  the  masses  of  the  retreating  foe.  To  add 
greater  horror  and  sublimity  to  the  scene,  the  Chancel- 


APPENDIX.  361 

lorsville  House  and  the  woods  surrounding  it  were 
wrapped  in  flumes.  In  the  midst  of  this  awful  scene, 
General  Lee,  mounted  upon  that  horse  which  we  all  re- 
member so  well,  rode  to  the  front  of  his  advancing  bat- 
talions. His  presence  was  the  signal  for  one  of  those 
uncontrollable  outbursts  of  enthusiasm  which  none  can 
appreciate  who  have  not  witnessed  them. 

"The  fierce  soldiers,  with  their  faces  blackened  with 
the  smoke  of  battle,  the  wounded  crawling  with  feeble 
limbs  from  the  fury  of  the  devouring  flames,  all  seemed 
possessed  with  a  common  impulse.  One  long,  unbroken 
cheer,  in  which  the  feeble  cry  of  those  who  lay  helpless 
on  the  earth  blended  with  the  strong  voices  of  those  who 
still  fought,  rose  high  above  the  roar  of  battle,  and  hailed 
the  presence  of  the  victorious  chief.  He  sat  in  the  full 
realization  of  all  that  soldiers  dream  of — triumph  ;  and 
as  I  looked  upon  him  in  the  complete  fruition  of  the  suc- 
cess which  his  genius,  courage,  and  confidence  in  his  army 
had  won,  I  thought  that  it  must  have  been  from  such  a  scene 
that  men  in  ancient  days  rose  to  the  dignity  of  the  gods. 

"His  first  care  was  for  the  wounded  of  both  armies,  and 
he  was  among  the  foremost  at  the  burning  mansion  where 
some  of  them  lay.  But  at  that  moment,  when  the  trans- 
ports of  his  victorious  troops  were  drowning  the  roar  of 
battle  with  acclamations,  a  note  was  brought  to  him  from 
General  Jackson.  It  was  brought  to  General  Lee  as  he 
sat  on  his  horse,  near  the  Chancellorsville  House,  and,  un- 
able to  open  it  with  his  gauntleted  hands,  he  passed  it  to 
me  with  directions  to  read  it  to  him.  The' note  made  no 
mention  of  the  wound  that  General  Jackson  had  received, 
but  congratulated  General  Lee  upon  the  great  victory. 

"  I  shall  never  forget  the  look  of  pain  and  anguish  that 
passed  over  his  face  as  he  listened.  With  a  voice  broken 


362  APPENDIX. 

with  emotion,  he  bade  me  say  to  General  Jackson  that  the 
victory  was  his,  and  that  the  congratulations  were  due  to 
him.  I  know  not  how  others  may  regard  this  incident, 
but  for  myself,  as  I  gave  expression  to  the  thoughts  of  his 
exalted  mind,  I  forgot  the  genius  that  won  the  day  in  ray 
reverence  for  the  generosity  that  refused  its  glory. 

"There  is  one  other  incident  to  which  I  beg  permission 
to  refer,  that  I  may  perfect  the  picture.  On  the  3d  day 
of  July,  1863,  the  last  assault  of  the  Confederate  troops 
upon  the  heights  of  Gettysburg  failed,  and  again  General 
Lee  was  among  the  baffled  and  shattered  battalions  as 
they  sullenly  retired  from  their  brave  attempt.  The  his- 
tory of  that  battle  is  yet  to  be  written,  and  the  responsi- 
bility for  the  result  is  yet  to  be  fixed. 

"  But  there,  with  the  painful  consciousness  that  his 
plans  had  been  frustrated  by  others,  and  that  defeat  and 
humiliation  had  overtaken  his  army,  in  the  presence  of 
his  troops  he  openly  assumed  the  entire  responsibility  of 
the  campaign  and  of  the  last  battle.  One  word  from  him 
would  have  relieved  him  of  the  responsibility,  but  that 
word  he  refused  to  utter  until  it  could  be  spoken  without 
fear  of  doing  the  least  injustice.  Thus,  my  fellow-soldiers, 
I  have  presented  to  you  our  great  commander  in  the  su- 
preme moments  of  triumph  and  of  defeat.  I  cannot  more 
strongly  illustrate  his  character.  Has  it  been  surpassed 
in  history?  Is  there  another  instance  of  such  self-abne- 
gation among  men?  The  man  rose  high  above  victory 
in  the  one  instance,  and,  harder  still,  the  man  rose  supe- 
rior to  disaster  in  the  other.  It  was  such  incidents  as 
these  that  gave  General  Lee  the  absolute  and  undoubting 
confidence  and  a  flection  of  his  soldiers. 

"Need  I  speak  of  the  many  exhibitions  of  that  confi- 
dence? You  all  remember  them,  my  comrades.  Have 
you  not  seen  a  wavering  line  restored  by  the  magic  of  his 


APPENDIX.  363 

presence?  Have  you  not  seen  the  few  forget  that  they 
were  fighting  against  the  many  because  he  was  among  the 
few?  But  I  pass  from  the  contemplation  of  his  great- 
ness in  war  to  look  to  his  example  under  the  oppressive 
circumstances  of  final  failure  —  to  look  to  that  example 
which  it  is  most  useful  for  us  now  to  refer  for  our  guidance 
and  instruction.  When  the  attempt  to  establish  the 
Southern  Confederacy  had  failed,  and  the  event  of  the 
war  seemed  to  have  established  the  indivisibility  of  the 
Federal  Union,  General  Lee  gave  his  adhesion  to  the  new 
order  of  affairs. 

"His  was  no  hollow  truce  ;  but  with  that  pure  faith  and 
honor  that  marked  every  act  of  his  illustrious  career,  he 
immediately  devoted  himself  to  the  restoration  of  peace, 
harmony,  and  concord.  He  entered  zealously  into  the 
subject  of  education,  believing,  as  he  often  declared,  that 
popular  education  is  the  only  sure  foundation  of  free  gov- 
ernment. He  gave  his  earnest  support  to  all  plans  of 
internal  improvement  designed  to  bind  more  firmly  to- 
gether the  social  and  commercial  interests  of  the  country ; 
and  among  the  last  acts  of  his  life  was  the  effort  to  secure 
the  construction  of  a  line  of  railway  communication  of 
incalculable  importance  as  a  connecting  link  between  the 
North  and  the  South.  He  devoted  all  his  great  energies 
to  the  advancement  of  the  welfare  of  his  countrymen, 
while  shrinking  from  public  notice,  and  sought  to  lay 
deep  and  strong  the  foundations  of  the  new  fabric  of  gov- 
ernment which  it  was  supposed  would  rise  from  the  ruins 
of  the  old.  But  I  need  not  repeat  to  you,  my  comrades, 
the  history  of  his  life  since  the  war.  You  have  watched 
it  to  its  close,  and  you  know  how  faithfully  and  truly  he 
performed  every  duty  of  his  position. 

"Let  us  take  to  heart  the  lesson  of  his  bright  example. 
Disregarding  all  that  malice  may  impute  to  us,  with  an 


364  APPENDIX. 

eye  single  to  the  faithful  performance  of  our  duties  as 
American  citizens,  and  with  the  honest  and  sincere  reso- 
lution to  support,  with  heart  and  hand,  the  honor,  the 
safety,  and  the  true  liberties  of  our  country,  let  us  invoke 
our  fellow-citizens  to  forget  the  animosities  of  the  past  by 
the  side  of  this  honored  grave,  and  joining  hands  around 
this  royal  corpse,  friends  now,  enemies  no  more,  proclaim 
perpetual  truce  to  battle." 

THE    RESOLUTIONS. 

"  Colonel  Marshall  then  reported  the  following  resolu- 
tions : 

"The  officers,  soldiers,  and  sailors  of  the  Southern 
Confederacy  residing  in  Maryland,  who  served  under 
General  Robert  E.  Lee,  desiring  to  record  their  grief  for 
hia  death,  their  admiration  for  his  exalted  virtues,  and 
their  affectionate  veneration  for  his  illustrious  memory  : 

"Resolve,!.  That,  leaving  with  pride  the  name  and  fame 
of  our  illustrious  commander  to  the  judgment  of  history, 
we,  who  followed  him  through  the  trials,  dangers,  and 
hardships  of  a  sanguinary  and  protracted  war;  who  have 
felt  the  inspiration  of  his  genius  and  valor  in  the  time  of 
trial;  who  have  witnessed  his  magnanimity  and  modera- 
tion in  the  hour  of  victory,  and  his  firmness  and  fortitude 
in  defeat, —  claim  the  privilege  of  laying  the  tribute  of  our 
heartfelt  sorrow  upon  his  honored  grave. 

"2.  That  the  confidence  and  admiration  which  his  emi- 
nent achievements  deserved  and  received,  were  strength- 
ened by  the  noble  example  of  his  constancy  in  adversity, 
and  that  we  honored  and  revered  him  in  his  retirement, 
as  we  trusted  and  followed  him  on  the  field  of  battle. 

"3.  That,  as  a  token  of  our  respect  and  sorrow,  we  will 
wear  the  customary  badge  of  mourning  for  thirty  days. 


APPENDIX.  365 

"  4.  That  a  copy  of  these  resolutions  and  of  the  proceed- 
ings of  this  meeting  be  transmitted  to  the  family  of  our 
lamented  chief." 

REMARKS  OF  HON.  JOHN  A.  CAMPBELL. 

"Hon.  John  A.  Campbell  rose,  and  said  :  I  second  the 
adoption  of  the  Resolutions.  They  refer  to  two  distinct 
times  in  the  life  of  General  Lee,  which  are  full  of  interest 
to  every  member  of  this  country.  The  first  is  that  period 
of  his  life  which  preceded  the  termination  of  the  war,  and 
the  second  that  which  followed  and  terminated  with  his 
death.  It  is  forty-four  years  since  my  acquaintance  with 
General  Lee  commenced  in  the  relation  of  instructor  and 
pupil ;  for  nearly  twelve  months  I  met  him  day  by  day, 
and  received  lessons  from  him.  There  are  many  who 
will  say  that  the  same  qualities  which  distinguished  him 
in  his  early  life,  remained  with  him  to  the  close.  He  was 
interested  in  all,  compassionate,  assisting  the  weak,  and 
instructing  those  that  were  strong.  At  the  Military 
Academy  he  took  a  distinguished  part,  and  there  was 
but  one  ,who  was  his  peer.  He  was  detailed  at  the  end 
of  the  year  to  instruct  a  class,  which  he  did;  and  at  the 
same  time  maintained  himself  in  his  own  class.  In  each 
of  the  four  classes  he  had  the  highest  grade,  and  after  he 
graduated,  he  was  assigned  to  the  corps  of  engineers.  A 
long  peace  followed.  When  the  war  with  Mexico  began, 
and  General  Scott  was  placed  in  command,  his  eyes  at 
once  turned  to  General  Lee.  I  once  asked  General 
Scott  why  he  attempted  to  inarch  to  the  city  of  Mexico 
with  the  material  he  had.  He  replied  that  he  was  obliged 
to  do  so,  as  the  yellow  fever  was  in  Vera  Cruz.  He  said 
he  took  two  young  men  into  a  room,  and  made  the  plan  of 
that  campaign,  and  one  of  those  men  was  General  Lee. 
31* 


366  APPENDIX. 

All  the  reports  of  General  Scott  were  full  of  encomiums 
of  General  Lee.  After  his  return,  he  was  promoted.  I 
have  seen  something  in  the  papers  in  relation  to  the  capture 
of  John  Brown.  I  was  in  the  Cabinet  meeting  when  a 
message  was  sent  to  General  Lee  to  know  what  had  been 
done ;  and  he  replied,  giving  the  facts  as  they  occurred. 
He  had  been  sent  to  Harper's  Ferry  in  command  of  a 
company  of  marines,  and  only  did  his  duty.  That  Cabinet 
meeting  decided  that  the  United  States  should  not  inter- 
fere, but  it  should  be  left  to  Virginia.  There  was  nothing 
but  kindness  extended  to  those  prisoners  after  they  were 
captured. 

"In  1861,  when  General  Lee  resigned  his  commission 
in  the  United  States  army,  some  people  spoke  of  treason. 
What  could  General  Lee  have  done  other  than  what  he 
did?  What  other  course  was  open  to  him  but  the  one 
he  took  ?  We  all  know  that  the  command  of  the  United 
States  army  was  offered  him  before  he  resigned.  Was  it 
wealth?  Was  any  man  so  blind  as  not  to  see  that  the 
powerful  Republic  to  be  found  north  of  the  Potomac 
could  confer  greater  wealth  than  the  States  south?  And 
his  own  estates  were  within  range  of  the  guns  of  the 
Federal  army.  He  was  early  offered  the  command  of  the 
United  States  army,  and  it  was  late  when  he  took  com- 
mand of  the  armies  of  the  South.  But  he  went  South, 
and  left  wealth  and  promotion  behind  him.  Why  did  he 
go?  It  was  because  he  was  a  Virginian.  And  if  he 
had  resigned  the  command  of  armies  as  large  as  those 
Prussia  now  has  in  the  field,  and  had  taken  nothing  but 
a  small  body  of  futile  Virginia  troops,  he  would  have 
been  justified.  And  why  do  I  say  so?  What  was  that 
State  of  Virginia,  and  how  did  that  State  of  Virginia 
come  into  the  Union?  The  name  of  Lee  is  associated 


APPENDIX.  367 

with  everything  that  is  high  and  honorable  in  that  State. 
The  Constitution  emanated  from  Virginia  beyond  all 
other  States,  and  Madison  is  called  to  this  hour  the  lather 
of  the  Constitution.  That  Constitution  was  debated  in 
Virginia  by  the  greatest  men  of  the  country.  Washington 
was  there,  and  Patrick  Henry,  Jelferson,  and  all  the  Lees. 
And  what  did  they  put  to  the  bottom  of  it?  That  if  the 
United  States  should  ever  abuse  the  powers  granted,  it 
should  be  in  the  power  of  Virginia  to  withdraw.  Were 
it  possible  to  connect  the  word  traitor  with  the  name  of 
Robert  E.  Lee,  I  would  say  that,  had  he  raised  his  sword 
against  Virginia,  it  would  have  savored  very  much  of 
treason.  He  never  favored  the  secession  of  the  Southern 
States.  He  probably,  with  Jackson  and  others,  hesitated 
long  before  he  yielded  ;  but  when  the  necessity  came,  he 
gave  up  every  feeling,  and  did  everything  which  duty 
seemed  to  demand.  General  Lee  was  nearly  a  year  with- 
out an  important  command,  and  it  was  whispered  that  he 
was  a  failure.  He  took  the  command  late  in  18G2.  I  do 
not  propose  to  follow  him  through  his  battles,  and  their 
history  has  not  been  written.  His  army  was  drawn  to- 
gether from  all  quarters,  and  badly  organized.  His 
officers  were  without  experience,  and  selected  by  a  popu- 
lar vote.  Without  time  for  sufficient  organization  or 
preparation,  the  Seven  Days'  battle  was  fought.  And 
while  McClellan  was  at  Harrison's  Landing,  two  hundred 
thousand  strong,  Lee  was  obliged  to  go  to  the  Potomac 
after  Pope,  leaving  hardly  a  battalion  between  McClellan 
and  Richmond.  At  the  battle  of  Gettysburg  no  troops 
were  left  before  Richmond,  and  it  would  have  been  as 
easy  for  the  Federal  army  to  have  gone  to  Richmond  as 
to  go  anywhere  else. 

"  At  Chanccllorsville,  or  Fredericksburg,  he  had  but 


368  APPENDIX. 

one  and  one-half  day's  rations ;  and  if  his  march  was 
impeded  by  a  swollen  torrent,  he  had  to  wait  until  it 
went  down  before  he  could  cross.  Upon  one  occasion,  he 
sent  word  to  the  War  Office  at  Richmond,  that,  if  he  did 
not  get  one  thousand  barrels  of  flour,  he  would  have  to  dis- 
band his  army.  They  then  had  had  no  meat  for  three  days. 
The  people  of  Richmond  raised  the  flour  that  time  and 
sent  it  to  the  army;  but  that  could  not  be  repeated.  In 
March,  1864,  General  Lee  said  they  were  in  no  condition 
to  carry  on  the  war,  and  it  was  time  to  negotiate.  He 
wrote,  that,  unless  his  circumstances  were  improved,  he 
could  not  hold  the  lines  before  Richmond,  nor  move  away 
from  it.  That  letter  was  captured  among  the  archives 
after  the  fall  of  Richmond;  and  General  Weitzel  said, 
after  reading  it,  that  he  was  proud  of  him.  With  General 
Lee,  there  was  nothing  unexpected,  nothing  unforeseen. 
He  had  given  counsel  to  meet  every  exigency,  and  when 
that  failed,  he  still  performed  his  duty;  and,  until  driven 
to  the  last  extremity,  never  surrendered  his  sword.  And 
what  has  he  been  since  the  war  ?  He  came  to  Richmond, 
and  I  saw  him.  Richmond  was  in  ruins  ;  he  was  held  a  pri- 
soner, and  for  some  time  he  was  not  permitted  to  leave 
the  city.  Then  he  was  carried  to  Congress  before  com- 
mittees, and  to  the  courts,  as  a  witness  in  the  famous 
treason  cases.  As  soon  as  he  could,  he  went  to  the  school. 
He  was  not  seen  seeking  support,  nor  adulation  ;  but  he 
sought  only  retirement,  that  he  might  perform  his  duty, 
'  and  make  an  honorable  living.  He  had  the  offer  of  houses 
and  lands;  but  to  all  he  said  no.  All  eyes  were  concen- 
trated upon  him.  'What  docs  he  do?  what  does  he 
say?'  were  heard  in  every  direction.  But  he  Avas  con- 
stant in  the  performance  of  his  duty;  every  man  looking 
to  him  in  hope  and  confidence.  He  devoted  himself  to 


APPENDIX.  369 

the  building  up  of  the  college,  the  establishment  of  reli- 
gious institutions,  and  to  the  strengthening  and  fortifying 
of  the  characters  of  those  under  his  control.  What  was 
Virginia  once  ?  What  has  Virginia  been  in  the  past  five 
years?  Is  there  one  of  the  name  of  Lee,  or  one  of  his 
compeers  whose  heart  thrilled  at  the  name  ?  It  has  been 
a  leaden  despotism.  But  without  ostentation,  and  without 
complaint,  he  has  been  inspiring  the  people  to  maintain 
themselves  under  the  calamities  which  surround  them. 
The  burden  was  too  great,  the  pressure  too  strong,  and 
the  great  leader  was  obliged  to  strike  his  tents.  He  has 
left  his  example  to  others,  and  gone  to  claim  that  crown 
which  is  always  given  to  great  actions."  * 

COLONEL   HENRY    E.  PEYTON'S   REMARKS. 

"MR.  CHAIRMAN:  —  While  within  the  broad  limits 
of  civilization  men  everywhere  are  turning  aside  from  the 
every.-day  pursuits  of  life  to  pay  voluntary  tribute  to  de- 
parted greatness,  it  is  peculiarly  fitting  that  those  who 
bore  the  relation  to  the  lamented  dead  which  exists  be- 
tween a  loved  commander  and  devoted  troops,  should  in 
a  simple  yet  unmistakable  form  give  expression  to  the 
feelings  .which  oppress  their  hearts.  The  resolutions  which 
have  been  read  are  not  only  expressive  of  the  sentiments 
of  those  assembled,  but  are  the  echoes  of  that  veneration 
and  grief  which  have  impressed  an  entire  people,  and  are 
finding  utterance  on  every  hand  in  language  of  sincere 
mourning  and  unaffected  eulogy. 

"The  world  is  honoring  itself  in  thus  honoring  the 
memory  of  one  who  has  won  more  of  its  admiration  than 
any  great  historic  name  since  Washington.  But  while  it 

*  The  remarks  of  Judge  Campbell  were  impromptu,  and  were 
very  imperfectly  reported  by  the  press. 

Y 


370  APPENDIX. 

follows  in  the  funeral  procession,  as  admirers  of  the  il- 
lustrious warrior,  we  have  the  proud  privilege  to  stand 
around  his  bier  as  friends  and  mourners  — as  brothers  in 
arms,  nay,  almost  as  the  children  of  his  heart. 

"  Knowing  all  the  splendid  elements  of  his  character  as 
wedid, —  the  fortitude  iu  adversity;  the  courage  in  disaster; 
the  silence  under  imputation  ;  the  sense  of  justice,  which 
knew  neither  friendship  nor  kindred ;  the  tenderness 
which  was  like  woman's ;  the  grand  poise  of  feeling, 
which  suffered  no  weak  elation  in  the  hour  of  victory,  — we 
turn,  like  children  appalled,  from  the  tomb  which  is 
closing  upon  our  hero  forever;  we  feel  as  men  who  have 
lost  the  light  of  a  great  example,  and  been  deprived  of  a 
guide  and  counsellor,  upon  whom  we  have  learned  to  lean 
with  a  confiding  and  enduring  trust. 

"Mr.  Chairman,  it  would  not  be  appropriate  for  me  to 
indulge  in  the  language  of  extended  eulogy.  A  character 
which  needs  philosophic  analysis,  to  place  the  different 
elements  that  constitute  greatness  and  strength  and  ex- 
cellence in  their  proper  and  harmonious  relations,  affords 
too  prolific  a  theme  for  an  occasion  like  this,  or  abilities 
like  mine.  This  is  more  appropriately  the  work  of  the 
critic  and  the  historian.  We  come  to  mourn,  not  to 
praise.  AVe  are  here  to  weep,  not  to  review.  Our  utter- 
ances are  the  leaping  words  that  come  unbidden  from 
breaking  hearts,  not  the  polished  periods  that  flow  from 
the  lips  of  orators.  We  need  not,  sir,  and  have  not  in- 
voked, the  accessories  of  eloquence  ;  the  occasion  itself  is 
eloquent;  the  influences  and  the  surrounelings  of  the  hour 
are  an  inspiration  ;  and  may  the  day  never  come  when  the 
silver  tongue  of  the  orator  will  be  necessary  to  bring 
mourners  to  the  grave  of  Robert  E.  Lee. 

"  Well  may  we  leave  to  history,  whilst  mingling  our 
tears  with  the  grief  of  our  people,  the  duty  of  portraying 


APPP^NDIX.  371 

to  ftiture  generations  the  man  who  has  in  our  day 
strengthened  our  i'aitli  in  our  own  race,  by  the  lofty 
height  to  which  his  own  great  nature  so  easily  bore  him. 

"At  another  and  more  suitable  time,  we  may  trench 
upon  the  province  of  the  historian,  which  speaks  of  bat- 
tles, and  victories,  and  disasters ;  of  the  march,  the 
bivouac,  and  the  camp  :  of  the  personal  and  thrilling  in- 
cidents that  come  crowding  in  upon  the  mind  in  this 
great  military  presence.  Tempting  as  are  these  martial 
themes,  and  vivid  as  they  might  be  wrought,  let  us  follow 
the  example  of  our  great  chief,  and  turn  from  these  to 
peaceful  thoughts.  Let  us,  to-night,  leave  Lee  the  soldier, 
and  contemplate  Lee  the  citizen.  Let  us  draw  lessons 
from  a  history  the  noblest,  the  grandest,  the  most  inspiring 
the  world  has  ever  known.  Let  us  study  that  wonderful 
adaptation  of  a  purely  military  character  to  the  calm,  im- 
perious duties  of  exacting  peace.  Let  us  recall  that 
peerless  fortitude  and  more  than  royal  dignity  which 
gave  to  the  dark  hour  of  final  surrender  more  of  triumph 
than  of  defeat.  Let  us  put  to  heart  and  impress  on  those 
who  are  to  come  after  us  that  spirit  of  self-abnegation 
which,  in  the  midst  of  poverty,  refused  every  benefaction, 
and  with  a  pathos  and  power  above  all  earthly  eloquence, 
spoke,  from  the  depths  of  his  great  soul,  to  a  friend  :  'My 
countrymen  offer  me  everything  but  work.' 

"  Fellow-soldiers,  there  is  no  better  incident  in  the  life 
of  this  great  man,  fraught  as  it  was  with  lessons  for  good, 
than  the  simple  fact  that,  whilst  he  declined  land  and  houses 
and  stocks  and  bonds,  and  taxed  the  ingenuity  of  friendship 
to  invent  new  channels  of  approach,  even  with  the  simplest 
offerings  of  love,  yet  accepted  at  a  trifling  salary  the  first 
position  offered  him  by  which  he  could  make  his  living 
by  his  own  hands.  These  are  words,  and  this  is  an  ex- 


372  APPENDIX. 

ample,  that  should  be  recorded  in  letters  of  gold,  to 
inspire  the  youth  not  only  of  this,  but  succeeding  gene- 
rations. They  elevate  their  author  to  an  immeasur- 
able height  of  moral  grandeur,  until,  like  the  mountain 
peaks  of  his  own  well-loved  State,  he  seems  to  rise  to  an 
altitude  of  virtue  which  leaves  commoner  spirits  in  the 
clouds  beneath.  Who  knows  better  than  the  men  I 
address  to-night,  the  Macaria-like  sacrifice  assumed  by 
our  beloved  commander,  when  he  formed  the  high  pur- 
pose to  descend  to  the  level  of  his  altered  condition?  It 
was  hard  for  the  soldier  to  be  transformed  at  once  into 
the  citizen.  It  was  hard  for  the  great  captain  of  the  age, 
who  had  ridden  at  the  head  of  victorious  armies  —  a 
leader  at  the  mention  of  whose  name  the  world  had 
bowed  in  awe  —  to  leap  from  the  saddle  of  his  ever-faithful 
gray,  (scarcely  less  famous  or  less  dear  than  his  noble 
rider  to  men  who  followed  his  fortunes  and  fought  under 
his  banners,)  into  the  dreary  and  uncongenial  duties  of 
the  pedagogue's  closet.  Yet  it  was  done,  and  done  as  all 
things  else  —  done  well.  How  well?  Go  ask  the  five 
hundred  students  that  sat  under  his  teachings,  and 
gathered  wisdom  in  that  temple  of  learning,  which  has 
grown  by  his  handiwork  from  small  beginnings  to  its  pres- 
ent complete  proportions  and  increasing  power.  Wash- 
ington College  is  a  living  monument  of  the  tireless  energy 
and  ceaseless  toil  of  the  mind  —  thought  to  be  trained 
only  for  the  business  of  war.  It  was  not  an  easy  thing 
for  men  whose  hands  were  used  to  the  grasp  of  the  mus- 
ket, to  suddenly  substitute  the  sickle  or  the  scythe,  nor  to 
find  in  the  harvest-field  the  excitement  of  the  battle-field. 
It  was  not  a  pleasant  thing  for  those  who  were  accus- 
tomed to  command  to  be  themselves  commanded,  and  feel 
the  tyranny  which  is  so  often  inflicted  by  the  powerful 


A  P  P  E  N  D  I  X  .  373 

upon  the  powerless.  But  these  things,  and  worse,  have 
been  borne  in  silence  by  the  men  of  the  Lost  Cause,  who 
survived  the  terrors  of  the  conflict.  The  temptation  to 
repine,  if  not  to  rebel,  was  never  greater  since  men  first 
went  to  war  or  failed  in  battle.  But  in  the  midst  of 
their  dishear tenings,  which  bordered  on  despair,  the  voice 
of  the  great  Captain  came  to  his  disbanded  battalions, 
and  commanded  them  to  suffer  and  be  strong;  to  learn  to 
labor  and  to  wait  ;  to  seek,  in  the  pursuits  of  civil  life, 
relief  from  the  excitements  of  war;  and,  in  the  fields  of 
industry,  to  build  again  the  broken  shrines  of  their  house- 
hold gods.  None  know  better  than  we  the  power  of  these 
inspiring  counsels.  Nor  how  we  turned  to  that  mountain 
retreat  at  Lexington,  and  sought  amid  the  porticos  of  an 
ancient  college  the  word  of  admonition  from  those  lips 
which  had  so  often  spoken  the  stern  command  of  battle. 

"  But,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  voice  is  hushed  in  death. 
Nothing  remains  to  us  but  the  echoes  of  its  warnings  and 
the  wisdom  of  its  teachings.  Let  us  cherish  them  as  a 
legacy  of  priceless  value.  Let  us  keep  before  our  minds, 
and  the  minds  of  our  children,  the  lessons  of  that  great 
life,  for,  like  the  fabled  Pharos  of  the  East,  it  will  be  a 
light  and  a  guide  forever.  Let  us  feel  that  whilst  the 
tomb  has  received  all  that  is  mortal  of  this  Christian  sol- 
dier, that  his  spirit  still  lives,  and  that  no  charnel-house 
can  confine  in  its  gloomy  chambers  the  glory  of  a  name 
like  his." 

REV.    THOMAS    U.    DUDLEY'S    REMARKS. 

Mn.  DUDLEY  said:  —  "I  count  myself  happy  that, 
though  almost  a  stranger  in  this  home  of  my  adoption,  I 
am  permitted  to  speak  as  a  Confederate  soldier  to  Con- 
federate soldiers,  gathered  together  upon  this  sad  occasion. 


374  APPENDIX. 

I  count  myself  happy  that,  by  the  courtesy  of  the  Com- 
mittee of  Arrangements,  I  am  permitted  to  bring  my  little 
flower  to  add  to  the  regal  wreath  of  immortelles  gathered 
to  place  on  the  grave  of  our  father-chieftain  who  is 
gone. 

"Yes,  they  have  buried  him  to-day,  brother-soldiers, 
in  his  mountain  home,  'neath  the  church  he  builded. 
Perhaps  some  day  a  nation  will  demand  that  his  dust 
shall  be  buried  near  her  capital.  Perhaps  some  day  the 
Richmond  he  defended  will  guard  the  precious  remains. 
Let  him  be  buried  there  —  not  on  the  hill  with  the  Presi- 
dents,* but  bury  him  where  "  the  boys  "  lie,  that  when  the 
grand  reveille  .sounds,  they  may  behold  their  chieftain  in 
their  midst.  For  that  grand  reveille  will  sound,  and  it  is 
of  this  that  I  would  speak.  I  come  not  to  speak  of  him 
as  patriot,  for  you  have  been  told  by  one  who  knew  and 
loved  him  long,  who  has  sat  at  his  feet  as  his  pupil,  the 
capacity  of  his  great  heart  to  take  in  its  embrace  all  the 
land  he  served.  I  will  not  speak  of  him  as  soldier,  for 
you  have  been  just  told  of  the  glory  which  he  brought 
to  that  flag  which  poor,  puny  malice  would  not  suffer  to 
be  lowered  to  half-mast  in  honor  of  him  dead.f  I  will 
not  speak  of  him  a.s  soldier  to  men  who  have  seen,  under 
his  prescient  guidance,  a  handful  chase  a  thousand ;  who 
have  seen  the  marvellous  circle  of  retreat,  ever  keeping 
the  shield  of  his  army  between  the  foe  and  the  city  he  de- 
fended. I  como  to  speak  of  him,  not  as  patriot,  but  as 

*  Upon  a  high  hill  in  Hollywood  Cemetery,  overlooking  the  falls 
of  the  James  River,  are  the  graves  of  two  Presidents  of  the  United 
States,  Tyler  ami  Monroe. 

f  An  allusion  to  the  action  of  a  United  States  official  in  Savau- 
nah,  Gu.,  who  refused  to  allow  the  flag  of  the  Custom-llouse  to 
remain  at  half-mast. 


APPENDIX.  375 

Christian  patriot ;  not  as  soldier,  but  as  Christian  soldier. 
You  are  building  to-night,  in  your  breasts,  a  monument 
to  the  dead  hero ;  patriot  and  soldier  are  graven  there. 
I  come  to  write  Christian  above  them.  Was  he  a  Chris- 
tian ?  I  will  relate  an  incident  as  illustrative:  It  was  in 
the  beginning  of  that  long  cold  winter  of  1862,  when  the 
battle  round  Richmond  had  been  fought,  and  Manassas 
and  Sharpsburg,  that  the  array,  weary  of  the  hard  cam- 
paign, was  camped  on  those  bleak  hills  about  Winches- 
ter. An  order  came  for  a  grand  review  —  one  of  those 
sad  displays  we  can  so  well  remember  —  so  sad,  and  yet 
necessary  to  the  discipline  and  efficiency  of  the  army. 
There  were  no  bright  trappings,  nor  glitter  of  gold  ;  the 
only  glitter  was  the  fire  of  determination  in  brave  men's 
eyes.  But  all  would  appear  in  their  best.  There  was  a 
chaplain  who,  in  obedience,  as  he  believed,  to  this  order, 
put  on  the  pure  white  robe  of  his  office  and  went  to  the 
review.  Doubtless  he  heard  the  derisive  laugh,  the  sneer- 
ing remarks  of  those  about  him  ;  but  when  the  command 
he  marched  with  passed  the  great  chief,  the  officers  tell  us 
that,  lifting  his  hat,  he  said :  '  I  salute  the  Church  of 
God.'  The  eye  that  was  busy  inspecting  the  accoutre- 
ments, the  arms,  the  troops  in  which  he  trusted  to  do  the 
work  he  had  to  do,  could  see  the  chaplain's  robe.  The 
commander,  who  sat  in  the  immovable  majesty  we  can 
remember  so  well,  bent  his  uncovered  head  to  salute  the 
Church  of  the  God  he  served. 

"  Again.  It  was  when  the  boom  of  the  occasional  gun 
could  be  heard  in  Richmond.  Seven  Pines  had  been 
fought  and  won.  The  Seven  Days'  fight  had  not  yet  be- 
gun. In  a  chamber  in  the  beleaguered  city  an  aged  min- 
ister of  God  lay  dying.  Could  our  eyes  have  penetrated 
the  recesses  of  that  chamber  in  the  close  of  one  afternoon, 


376  APPENDIX. 

we  should  have  seen  the  hero  whom  we  mourn,  booted 
and  spurred,  fresh  from  his  victorious  legions,  kneeling 
by  the  bedside  of  the  dying  bishop  to  receive  his  bless- 
ing, that  he  might  certify  him  by  this  sign  of  the  favor 
and  goodness  of  the  God  he  served.  We  should  have 
heard  the  words  of  blessing :  '  Robert,  Robert,'  —  for  he 
had  held  him  in  his  arms  in  infancy,  —  'stand  up  for  our 
country,  and  God  will  bless  you.'  Was  he  Christian  ? 
Thus,  soldiers,  he  saluted,  with  lifted  hand  and  bended 
knee,  and  humble  heart,  the  Church  of  God.  Remember 
it:  not  only  patriot,  soldier,  but  Christian.  Therefore  we 
are  comforted,  because  the  light  that  streams  from  one 
open  tomb,  makes  bright  nil  the  darkness  of  the  place 
whither  he  is  gone.  Because  he  was  Christian  here,  we 
may  believe,  on  the  assurance  of  the  Word  of  God,  that 
the  Church  of  God  has  risen  up  to  salute  him  in  the  para- 
dise where  he  is  entered.  The  sad  expression  we  can  re- 
member so  well  is  gone  from  his  face  now,  for  the  burden 
of  the  LostCuu.se  no  more  oppresses  his  heart;  because 
he  has  been  a  soldier  in  the  cause  that  can  never  be  lost. 
It  no  more  grieves  him  that  the  conquered  banner  is 
folded  and  weary,  for  he  has  fought  bravely  and  well  un- 
der the  banner  that  floats  triumphant  from  the  battle- 
ments of  heaven,  and  shall  float  forever. 

"  There  is  left  to  us,  brother  soldiers,  more  than  the 
mournful  privilege  to  tell  over  to  our  hearts,  and  to  our 
children,  the  battles,  sieges,  victories,  and  defeats,  he  won 
and  suffered.  There  is  left  to  us  the  grand  example  of 
God's  faithful  servant,  that  we  may  follow.  He  being 
dead,  yet  speaketh,  bidding  you,  his  soldiers,  to  enlist 
under  the  Christian  banner.  This  is  his  command.  You 
did  never  fail  to  follow  where  he  led ;  you  did  never  flinch 
or  falter  to  do  his  bidding.  This  is  the  command  he 


APPENDIX.  377 

speaks:  Enlist  and  battle  for  God  and  Christ,  so  that, 
when  our  end  shall  come,  \ve  too,  like  Him,  may  wrap  the 
drapery  of  our  couch  about  us,  and  lay  us  down  —  not  to 
dreams,  but,  to  the  eternal  realities  which  eye  hath  not 
seen  nor  ear  heard,  nor  hath  entered  into  the  heart  of 
man  to  conceive,  but  which  God  hath  prepared  for  them 
that  love  Him  —  that  we,  too,  may  hear,  as  we  trust  he 
has  heard,  the  greeting : 

"'Soldier  of  Christ,   well  tlonc  ! 

Rest  from  thy  loved  employ; 
Thy  battle's  o'er,  thy  victory  won, — 
Enter  thy  Master's  joy.'" 

LOUISVILLE,  KENTUCKY,  October  I5ih. 

ADDRESS    OF    GENERAL    BRECKINRIDGE. 

"Mu.  PRESIDENT,  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN:  —  In  the 
humble  part  which  it  falls  to  mo  to  take  in  these  inter- 
esting ceremonies,  if  for  any  cause  it  has  been  supposed 
that  I  am  to  deliver  a  lengthy  address,  I  am  not  respon- 
sible for  the  origination  of  that  supposition.  I  came  here 
to-night  simply  to  mingle  my  grief  with  yours  at  the  loss 
of  one  of  our  most  distinguished  citizens,  and,  indeed,  I 
feel  more  like  silence  than  like  words.  I  am  awe-stricken 
in  the  presence  of  this  vast  assemblage,  and  my  mind 
goes  back  to  the  past.  It  is  pre-occupied  by  memories 
coming  in  prominent  review  of  the  frequent  and  ever 
varying  vicissitudes  which  have  characterized  the  last 
ten  years.  I  find  myself  in  the  presence  of  a  vast  assem- 
blage of  the  people  of  this  great  and  growing  city,  who 
meet  together  without  distinction  of  party,  and  presided 
over  by  your  chief  officer,  for  the  purpose  of  expressing 
respect  to  the  memory  of  the  man  who  was  the  leader  of 
32  * 


378  APPENDIX. 

the  Confederate  armies  in  the  late  war  between  the  States. 
It  is  in  itself  the  omen  of  re-union.  I  am  not  surprised 
at  the  spectacle  presented  here.  Throughout  the  entire 
South  one  universal  cry  of  grief  has  broken  forth  at  the 
death  of  General  Lee,  and  in  a  very  large  portion  of  the 
North  manly  and  noble  tributes  have  been  paid  to  his 
memory. 

"  My  words  shall  be  brief,  but  plain.  Why  is  it  that 
at  the  South  we  see  this  universal,  spontaneous  demon- 
stration ?  First,  because  most  of  the  people  mourn  the  loss 
of  a  leader  and  a  friend,  but  beyond  that  I  must  say  they 
seem  to  enter  an  unconscious  protest  against  the  ascription 
either  to  him  or  them  of  treason  or  personal  dishonor.  It 
may  be  an  unconscious  protest  against  the  employment, 
by  a  portion  of  the  public  press,  of  those  epithets  which 
have  ceased  to  be  used  in  social  intercourse.  It  is  an  invi- 
tation, on  their  part,  to  the  people  of  the  North  and  South, 
East  and  West,  if  there  be  any  remaining  rancor  in  their 
bosoms,  to  bury  it  in  the  grave  forever.  I  will  not  recall 
the  past.  I  will  not  enter  upon  any  considerations  of  the 
cause  of  that  great  struggle.  This  demonstration  we  see 
around  us  gives  the  plainest  evidence  that  there  is  no  dispo- 
sition to  indulge  in  useless  repinings  at  the  results  of  that 
great  struggle.  It  is  for  the  pen  of  the  historian  to  declare 
the  cause,  progress,  and  probable  consequences  of  it.  In 
regard  to  those  who  followed  General  Lee,  who  gloried  iu 
his  successes  and  shared  his  misfortunes,  I  have  but  this 
to  say  :  the  world  watched  the  contest  in  which  they  were 
engaged,  and  yet  gives  testimony  to  their  gallantry.  The 
magnanimity  with  which  they  accepted  the  results  of 
their  defeat,  the  obedience  they  have  yielded  to  the  laws 
of  the  Federal  Government,  give  an  exhibition  so  rare  that 
they  are  ennobled  by  their  calm  and  dignified  submission. 


APPENDIX.  379 

For  the  rest,  their  escutcheon  is  unstained.  The  con- 
querors themselves,  for  their  own  glory,  must  confess  that 
they  were  brave.  Neither,  my  friends,  do  I  come  here 
to-night  to  speak  of  the  military  career  of  General  Lee. 
I  need  not  speak  of  it  this  evening.  I  believe  that  this 
is  universally  recognized,  not  only  in  the  United  States, 
but  in  Europe;  it  has  made  the  circuit  of  the  world.  I 
come  but  to  utter  my  tribute  to  him  as  a  man  and  as  a 
citizen.  As  a  man,  he  will  be  remembered  in  history  as 
the  man  of  the  epoch.  How  little  need  I  to  speak  of  his 
character,  after  listening  to  the  thrilling  delineation  of  it 
which  we  had  this  morning?  We  all  know  that  he  was 
great,  noble,  and  self-poised.  He  was  just  and  moderate, 
but  was,  perhaps,  misunderstood  by  those  who  were  not 
personally  acquainted  with  him.  He  was  supposed  to  be 
just,  but  cold.  Far  from  it.  He  had  a  warm,  affectionate 
heart.  During  the  last  year  of  that  unfortunate  struggle, 
it  was  my  good  fortune  to  spend  a  great  deal  of  time  with 
him.  I  was  almost  constantly  by  his  side,  and  it  was 
during  the  two  months  immediately  preceding  the  fall  of 
Richmond  that  I  came  to  know  and  fully  understand  the 
true  nobility  of  his  character.  In  all  those  long  vigils 
he  was  considerate  and  kind,  gentle,  firm,  and  self-poised. 
I  can  give  no  better  idea  of  the  impression  it  made  upon 
me  than  to  say  it  inspired  me  with  an  ardent  love  of  the 
man  and  a  profound  veneration  of  his  character.  It  was 
so  massive  and  noble,  so  grand  in  its  proportions,  that  all 
men  must  admire  its  heroism  and  gallantry,  yet  so  gentle 
and  tender  that  a  woman  might  adopt  and  claim- it  as  her 
own.  .  .  . 

"  But  he  failed.  The  result  is  in  the  future.  It  may 
be  for  better  or  for  worse.  We  hope  for  the  better.  But 
this  is  not  the  test  of  his  greatness  and  goodness.  Success 


380  APPENDIX. 

often  gilds  the  shallow  man,  but  it  is  disaster  alone  that 
reveals  the  qualities  of  true  greatness.  Was  his  life  a 
failure?  Is  only  that  man  successful  who  erects  a  ma- 
terial monument  of  greatness  by  the  enforcement  of  his 
ideas?  Is  not  that  man  successful  also,  who,  by  his  valor, 
moderation,  and  courage,  with  all  their  associate  virtues, 
presents  to  the  world  such  a  specimen  of  true  manhood  as 
his  children  and  children's  children  will  be  proud  to 
imitate  ?  In  this  sense  he  did  not  fail. 

"  Pardon  me  for  having  detained  you  so  long.  I  know 
there  are  here  and  there  those  who  will  reach  out 
and  attempt  to  pluck  from  his  name  the  glory  which  sur- 
rounds it,  and  strike  with  malignant  fury  at  the  honors 
awarded  to  him  ;  yet  history  will  declare  that  the  remains 
which  repose  in  the  vault,  beneath  the  little  chapel  in  the 
lovely  Virginia  valley,  are  not  only  those  of  a  valorous 
soldier,  but  tho.se  of  a  great  and  good  American." 

GENERAL    WILLIAM    PUESTON. 

"MR.  CHAIRMAN,  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN:  —  I  feel 
that  it  would  be  very  difficult  for  me  to  add  any  eulogy 
to  those  which  are  contained  in  the  resolutions  of  the 
Committee,  or  a  more  merited  tribute  of  praise  than  those 
which  have  already  fallen  from  the  lips  of  the  gentlemen 
who  have  preceded  me.  Yet,  on  an  occasion  like  this,  I 
am  willing  to  come  forward  and  add  a  word  to  testify  my 
appreciation  of  the  great  virtues  and  admirable  character 
of  one  that  commands,  not  only  our  admiration,  but  that 
of  the  entire  country ;  not  alone  of  the  entire  country, 
but  his  character  has  excited  more  admiration  in  Europe 
than  among  ourselves. 

"In  coming  ages,  his  name  will  be  marked  with  lustre, 


APPENDIX.  381 

and  will  he  one  of  the  richest  treasures  of  the  future.  I 
speak  of  one  just  gone  down  to  death  ;  ripe  in  all  the 
nohle  attributes  of  manhood,  and  illustrious  by  deeds  the 
most  remarkable  in  character  that  have  occurred  in  the 
history  of  America  since  its  discovery.  It  is  now  some 
two-and-twenty  years  since  I  first  made  the  acquaintance 
of  General  Lee.  He  was  then  in  the  prime  of  manhood, 
in  Mexico,  and  I  first  saw  him  as  the  chief  engineer  of 
General  Scott  in  the  Valley  of  Mexico.  I  see  around  me 
two  old  comrades  who  then  saw  General  Lee.  He  was  a 
man  of  remarkable  personal  beauty  and  great  grace  of 
body.  He  had  a  finished  form,  delicate  hands;  was 
graceful  in  person,  while  here  and  there  a  gray  hair 
streaked  with  silver  the  dark  locks  with  which  nature 
had  clothed  his  noble  brow.  There  were  discerning 
minds  that  appreciated  his  genius,  and  saw  in  him  the 
coming  Captain  of  America.  His  commander  and  his 
comrades  appreciated  his  ability.  To  a  club  which  was 
then  organized  he  belonged,  together  with  General 
MeClellan,  General  Albert  Sydney  Johnston,  General 
Beauregard,  and  a  host  of  others.  They  recognized  in 
Lee  a  master-spirit. 

"  He  was  never  violent ;  he  never  wrangled.  He  was 
averse  to  quarrelling,  and  not  a  single  difficulty  marked 
his  career;  but  all  acknowledged  his  justness  and  won- 
derful evenness  of  mind.  Rare  intelligence,  combined  with 
these  qualities,  served  to  make  him  a  fit  representative  of 
his  great  prototype,  General  Washington.  He  had  been 
accomplished  by  every  finish  that  a  military  education 
could  bestow.  I  remember  when  General  Lee  was  ap- 
pointed lieutenant-colonel  at  the  same  time  that  Sydney 
Johnston  was  appointed  colonel,  and  General  Scott  thought 
that  Lee  should  have  been  colonel.  I  was  talking  with 


382  APPENDIX. 

General  Scott  on  the  subject  long  before  the  late  struggle 
between  the  North  and  the  South  took  place ;  and  he  then 
said  that  Lee  was  the  greatest  living  soldier  in  America. 
He  did  not  object  to  the  other  commission ;  but  he  thought 
Lee  should  have  been  first  promoted.  Finally  he  said  to 
me,  with  emphasis,  which  you  will  pardon  me  for  relating, 
'  I  tell  you,  that,  if  I  were  on  my  death-bed  to-morrow, 
and  the  President  of  the  United  States  should  tell  me 
that  a  great  battle  was  to  be  fought  for  the  liberty  or 
slavery  of  the  country,  and  asked  my  judgment  as  to  the 
ability  of  a  commander,  I  would  say,  with  my  dying 
breath,  let  it  be  Robert  E.  Lee ! '  Ah  !  great  soldier 
that  he  was !  princely  general  that  he  was !  he  has  ful- 
filled his  mission,  and  borne  it  so  that  no  invidious  tongue 
can  level  the  shafts  of  calumny  at  the  great  character 
which  he  has  left  behind  him. 

"  But,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  it  was  not  in  this  that  the 
matchless  attributes  of  his  character  were  found.  You 
have  assembled  here,  not  so  much  to  do  honor  to  General 
Lee,  but  to  testify  your  appreciation  of  the  worth  of  the 
principles  governing  his  character ;  and  if  the  minds  of 
this  assemblage  were  explored,  you  would  find,  there  was 
a  gentleness  and  a  grace  in  his  character  which  had  won 
your  love,  and  brought  forth  testimonials  of  universal 
admiration.  Take  but  a  single  instance.  At  the  battle 
of  Gettysburg,  after  the  attack  on  the  cemetery,  where  his 
troops  were  repulsed  and  beaten,  the  men  threw  up  their 
muskets,  and  said,  'General,  we  have  failed,  and  it  is  our 
fault!'  —  'No,  my  men,' said  he,  knowing  the  style  of 
fighting  of  General  Stonewall  Jackson,  '  you  have  done 
well ;  't  is  my  fault ;  I  am  to  blame,  and  no  one  but  me.' 
What  man  is  there  that  would  not  have  gone  to  renewed 
death  for  such  a  leader  ?  So,  when  we  examine  his  whole 


APPENDIX.  383 

character,  it  is  in  his  private  life  that  you  find  his  true 
greatness — the  Christian  simplicity  of  his  character,  and 
his  great  veneration  for  truth  and  nobility,  the  grand 
elements  of  his  greatness.  What  man  could  have  laid 
down  his  sword  at  the  feet  of  a  victorious  general  with 
greater  dignity  than  did  he  at  Appomattox  Court-House? 
He  laid  down  his  sword  with  grace  and  dignity,  and 
secured  for  his  soldiers  the  best  terms  that  fortune  would 
permit.  In  that  he  shows  marked  greatness  seldom  shown 
by  great  captains. 

"  After  the  battle  of  Sedan,  the  wild  cries  of  the  citizens 
of  Paris  went  out  for  the  blood  of  the  emperor ;  but  at 
Appomattox,  veneration  and  love  only  met  the  eyes  of 
the  troops  who  looked  upon  their  commander.  I  will  not 
trespass  upon  your  time  much  further.  When  I  last  saw 
him,  the  raven  hair  had  turned  white.  In  a  small  village 
church  his  reverent  head  was  bowed  in  prayer.  The 
humblest  step  was  that  of  Robert  E.  Lee,  as  he  entered 
the  portals  of  the  temple  erected  to  God.  In  broken 
responses,  he  answered  to  the  services  of  the  church. 
Noble,  sincere,  and  humble  in  his  religion,  he  showed 
forth  his  true  character  in  laying  aside  his  sword  to  edu- 
cate the  youth  of  his  country.  Never  did  he  appear  more 
noble  than  at  that  time.  He  is  now  gone,  and  rests  in 
peace,  and  has  crossed  that  mysterious  stream  that  Stone- 
wall Jackson  saw  with  inspired  eyes  when  he  asked  that 
he  might  be  permitted  to  take  his  troops  across  the  river 
and  forever  rest  beneath  the  shadows  of  the  trees." 

NEW  ORLKANS,  LOUISIANA. 
HON.  THOMAS  .1.  SEMMES. 

"  Robert  E.  Lee  is  dead.  The  Potomac,  overlooked  by 
the  home  of  the  hero,  once  dividing  contending  peoples 


384  APPENDIX. 

but  now  no  longer  a  boundary,  conveys  to  the  ocean  a 
nation's  tears.  South  of  the  Potomac  is  mourning  ;  pro- 
found grief  pervades  every  heart,  lamentation  is  heard 
from  every  hearth,  for  Lee  sleeps  among  the  slain  whose 
memory  is  so  dear  to  us.  In  the  language  of  Moina : 

"  •  They  were  sLun  for  us, 
And  their  blood  flowed  out  in  a  rain  for  us, 
Red,  rich,  and  pure,  on  the  plain  for  us; 

And  years  may  go, 

But  our  tears  shall  flow 
O'er  the  dead  who  have  died  in  vain  for  us.' 

"North  of  the  Potomac  not  only  sympathizes  with  its 
widowed  sister,  but,  with  respectful  homage,  the  brave 
and  generous,  clustering  around  the  corpse  of  the  great 
Virginian,  with  one  accord,  exclaim  : 

"  '  This  earth,  that  beara  thee  dead, 
Bears  not  .alive  so  stout  a  gentleman.' 

"Sympathetic  nations,  to  whom  our  lamentations  have 
been  transmitted  on  the  wings  of  lightning,  will,  with 
pious  jealousy,  envy  our  grief,  because  Robert  E.  Lee  was 
an  American.  Seven  cities  claimed  the  honor  of  having 
given  birth  to  the  great  Pagan  poet;  but  all  Christian 
nations,  while  revering  America  as  the  mother  of  Robert 
E.  Lee,  will  claim  for  the  nineteenth  century  the  honor 
of  his  birth.  There  was  but  one  Lee,  the  great  Christian 
captain,  and  his  fame  justly  belongs  to  Christendom.  The 
nineteenth  century  has  attacked  everything  —  it  has  at- 
tacked God,  the  soul,  reason,  morals,  society,  the  distinc- 
tion between  good  and  evil,  —  but  Christianity  is  vindicated 
by  the  virtues  of  Lee.  lie  is  the  most  brilliant  and  co- 
gent argument  in  favor  of  a  system  illustrated  by  such  a 


APPENDIX.  385 

man  ;  he  is  the  type  of  the  reign  of  law  in  the  moral  order 
—  that  reign  of  law  which  the  philosophic  Duke  of  Ar- 
gyle  has  so  recently  and  so  ably  discussed,  as  pervading 
the  natural  as  well  as  the  supernatural  world.  One  of  the 
chief  characteristics  of  the  Christian  is  duty.  Throughout 
a  checkered  life,  the  conscientious  performance  of  duty 
seems  to  have  been  the  mainspring  of  the  actions  of  Gen- 
eral Lee.  In  his  relations  of  father,  son,  husband,  soldier, 
citizen,  duty  shines  conspicuous  in  all  his  acts.  His 
agency  as  he  advanced  to  more  elevated  stations,  attracts 
more  attention  and  surrounds  him  with  a  brighter  halo 
of  glory  ;  but  he  is  unchanged  —  from  first  to  last  it  is 
Robert  E.  Lee. 

"The  most  momentous  act  of  his  lift-  was  the  selection 
of  sides  at  the  commencement  of  the  political  troubles 
which  immediately  preceded  the  late  conflict.  High  in 
military  rank,  caressed  by  General  Scott,  courted  by 
those  possessed  of  influence  and  authority,  no  politician, 
happy  in  his  domestic  relations,  and  in  the  enjoyment  of 
competent  fortune,  consisting  in  the  main  of  property 
situated  on  the  borders  of  Virginia, —  nevertheless,  im- 
pelled by  a  sense  of  duty,  as  he  himself  testified  before  a 
Congressional  committee  since  the  war,  General  Lee  de- 
termined to  risk  all  and  unite  his  fortunes  with  those  of 
his  native  State,  whose  ordinances,  as  one  of  her  citizens, 
he  considered  himself  bound  to  obey. 

"  Having  joined  the  Confederate  army,  he  complained 
not  that  he  was  assigned  to  the  obscure  duty  of  constructing 
coast  defences  for  South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  nor  that 
he  was  subsequently  relegated  to  unambitious  commands 
in  Western  Virginia.  The  accidental  circumstance  that 
General  Joseph  E.  Johnston  was  wounded  at  the  battle 
of  Seven  Pines  in  May,  1862,  placed  I^ee  in  command  of 
33  / 


386  APPENDIX. 

the  army  of  Northern  Virginia.  As  commander  of  that 
army  he  achieved  a  world-wide  reputation,  without  giving 
occasion,  during  a  period  of  three  years,  to  any  complaint 
on  the  part  of  officers,  men,  or  citizens,  or  enemies,  that 
he  had  been  guilty  of  any  act,  illegal,  oppressive,  unjust, 
or  inhuman  in  its  character.  This  is  the  highest  tribute 
possible  to  the  wisdom  and  virtue  of  General  Lee  ;  for,  as  a 
general  rule,  law  was  degraded;  officers,  whether  justly  or 
unjustly,  were  constantly  the  subject  of  complaint  and  dis- 
cord, and  jealousy  prevailed  in  camp  and  in  the  Senate- 
chamber.  There  was  a  fraction  of  our  people  represented 
by  an  unavailing  minority  in  Congress,  who  either  felt,  or 
professed  to  feel,  a  jealousy  whose  theory  was  just,  but  whose 
application,  at  such  a  time,  was  unsound.  They  wished  to 
give  as  little  power  as  possible,  because  they  dreaded  a  mili- 
tary despotism,  and  thus  desired  to  send  our  armies  forth 
with  half  a  shield  and  broken  swords  to  protect  the  govern- 
ment from  its  enemies,  lest,  if  the  bucklers  were  entire  and 
the  swords  perfect,  they  might  be  tempted,  in  the  heyday  of 
victory,  to  smite  their  employers.  But  this  want  of  con- 
fidence never  manifested  itself  toward  General  Lee,  whose 
conduct  satisfied  the  most  suspicious  that  his  ambition 
was  not  of  glory,  but  of  the  performance  of  duty.  The 
army  always  felt  this:  the  fact,  that  he  sacrificed  no 
masses  of  human  beings  in  desperate  charges  that  he 
might  gather  laurels  from  the  spot  enriched  from  their 
gore.  A  year  or  more  before  he  was  appointed  com- 
mander-in-chief  of  all  the  Confederate  forces,  a  bill  passed 
Congress  creating  that  office.  It  failed  to  become  a  law, 
the  President  having  withheld  his  approval.  Lee  made 
no  complaints  ;  his  friends  solicited  no  votes  to  counteract 
the  veto.  When  a  bill  for  the  same  purpose  was  passed 
at  a  subsequent  period,  it  was  whispered  about  that  he 


APPENDIX.  387 

could  not  accept  the  position.  To  a  committee  of  Vir- 
ginians who  had  called  on  him  to  ascertain  the  truth,  his 
reply  was,  that  he  felt  bound  to  accept  any  post  the  du- 
ties of  which  his  country  believed  him  competent  to  per- 
form. After  the  battle  of  Gettysburg  he  tendered  his  resig- 
nation to  President  Davis,  because  he  was  apprehensive 
his  failure,  the  responsibility  for  which  he  did  not  pre- 
tend to  throw  on  his  troops  or  officers,  would  produce  dis- 
trust of  his  abilities  and  destroy  his  usefulness.  I  am  in- 
formed, the  President,  in  a  beautiful  and  touching  letter, 
declined  to  listen  to  such  a  proposition.  During  the 
whole  period  of  the  war  he  steadily  declined  all  presents, 
and  when,  on  one  occasion,  a  gentleman  sent  him  several 
dozen  of  wine,  he  turned  it  over  to  the  hospitals  in  Rich- 
mond, saying  the  sick  and  wounded  needed  it  more  than 
he.  He  was  extremely  simple  and  unostentatious  in  his 
habits,  and  shared  with  his  soldiers  their  privations  as 

well   as   their  dangers Duty  alone   induced  this 

great  soldier  to  submit  to  such  privation,  for  the  slightest 
intimation  given  to  friends  in  Richmond  would  have 
filled  his  tent  with  all  the  luxuries  that  blockade-runners 
and  speculators  had  introduced  for  the  favored  few  able 
to  purchase. 

"This  performance  of  duty  was  accompanied  by  no 
harsh  manner  or  cynical  expressions ;  for  the  man  whose 
soul  is  ennobled  by  true  heroism  possesses  a  heart  as  tender 
as  it  is  firm.  His  calmness  under  the  most  trying  cir- 
cumstances, and  his  uniform  sweetness  of  manner,  were 
almost  poetical.  They  manifested  '  the  most  sustained 
tenderness  of  soul  that  ever  caressed  the  chords  of  a  lyre.' 
In  council  he  was  temperate  and  patient,  and  his  words 
fell  softly  and  evenly  as  snow-flakes,  like  the  sentences 
that  fell  from  the  lips  of  Ulysses. 


388  APPENDIX. 

"Since  the  termination  of  the  war,  his  conduct  until  his 
death  has  challenged  the  admiration  of  friends  and  foes. 
He  honestly  acquiesced  in  the  inevitable  result  of  the 
struggle.  No  discontent,  sourness,  or  complaint  has 
marred  his  tranquil  life  at  Washington  College,  where 
death  found  him  at  his  post  of  duty,  engaged  in  fitting 
the  young  men  of  his  country,  by  proper  discipline  and 
education,  for  the  performance  of  the  varied  duties  of  life. 
It  is  somewhat  singular  that  both  Lee  and  his  great  lieuten- 
ant Jackson  should  in  their  last  moments  have  referred 
to  Hill.  It  is  reported  that  General  Lee  said  :  '  Let  my 
tent  be  struck !  Send  for  Hill ! '  while  the  lamented  Jack- 
son, in  his  delirium,  cried  out :  '  Let  A.  P.  Hill  prepare 
for  action!  March  the  infantry  rapidly  to  the  front! 
Let  us  cross  over  the  river,  and  rest  under  the  shade  of 
the  trees.'  Both  heroes  died  with  commands  for  mili- 
tary movements  on  their  lips ;  both  the  noblest  specimens 
of  the  Christian  soldier  produced  by  any  country  or  any 
age;  both  now  rest  under  the  shade  of  the  trees  of 
heaven." 

REV.    DR.    PALMER. 

"  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  :  I  should  have  been  better 
pleased  had  I  been  permitted  to  sit  a  simple  listener  to 
the  eloquent  tribute  paid  to  the  immortal  chieftain  who 
now  reposes  in  death,  by  the  speaker  who  has  just  taken 
his  seat.  The  nature  of  my  calling  so  far  separates  me 
from  public  life  that  I  am  scarcely  competent  for  the 
office  of  alluding  to  the  elements  which  naturally  gather 
around  his  career.  When  informed  that  other  artists 
would  draw  the  picture  of  the  warrior  and  the  hero,  I 
yielded  a  cheerful  compliance,  in  the  belief  that  nothing 
was  left  but  to  describe  the  Christian  and  the  man.  You 


APPENDIX.  389 

are  entirely  familiar  with  the  early  life  of  him  over  whose 
grave  you  this  night  shed  tears;  with  his  grave  and  sedate 
boyhood  giving  promise  of  the  reserved  force  of  mature 
manhood  ;  with  his  academic  career  at  West  Point,  where 
he  received  the  highest  honors  of  a  class  brilliant  with 
such  names  as  General  Joseph  E.  Johnston  ;  his  seizure 
of  the  highest  honors  of  a  long  apprenticeship  in  that 
institution,  and  his  abrupt  ascension  in  the  Mexican  war 
from  obscurity  to  fame  —  all  are  too  firmly  stamped  in 
the  minds  of  his  admirers  to  require  even  an  allusion. 
You  are  too  familiar,  to  need  repetition  from  my  lips, 
with  that  great  mental  and  spiritual  struggle,  when, 
abandoning  the  service  in  which  he  had  gathered  so 
much  of  honor  and  reputation,  he  determined  to  lay  his 
heart  upon  the  altar  of  his  native  State,  and  swear  to  live 
or  die  in  her  defence. 

"  It  would  be  a  somewhat  singular  subject  of  specula- 
tion to  discover  how  it  is  that  national  character  so  often 
remarkably  expresses  itself  in  single  individuals  who  are 
born  as  representatives  of  a  class.  It  is  wonderful,  for  it 
has  been  the  remark  of  ages,  how  the  great  are  born  in 
clusters  ;  sometimes,  indeed,  one  star  shining  with  solitary 
splendor  in  the  firmament  above,  but  generally  gathered 
in  grand  constellations,  filling  the  sky  with  glory.  What 
is  that  combination  of  influences,  partly  physical,  partly 
intellectual,  but  somewhat  more  moral,  which  should 
make  a  particular  country  productive  of  men  great  over 
all  others  on  earth,  and  to  all  ages  of  time?  Ancient 
Greece,  with  her  indented  coast,  inviting  to  maritime 
adventures,  from  her  earliest  period  was  the  mother  of 
heroes  in  war,  of  poets  in  song,  of  sculptors  and  artists, 
and  stands  up  after  the  lapse  of  centuries  the  educator  of 
mankind,  living  in  the  grandeur  of  her  works  and  in  the 
33* 


390  APPENDIX. 

immortal  productions  of  minds  which  modern  civilization, 
with  all  its  cultivation  and  refinement  and  science,  never 
surpassed  and  scarcely  equalled.  And  why,  in  the  three 
hundred  years  of  American  history,  it  should  be  given  to 
the  Old  Dominion  to  be  the  grandmother,  not  only  of 
States,  but  of  the  men  by  whom  States  and  empires  are 
formed,  it  might  be  curious,  were  it  possible  for  us,  to 
inquire.  Unquestionably,  Mr.  President,  there  is  in  this 
problem  the  element  of  race;  for  he  is  blind  to  all  the 
truths  of  history,  to  all  the  revelations  of  the  past,  who 
does  not  recognize  a  select  race  as  we  recognize  a  select 
individual  of  a  race,  to  make  all  history.  But  pretermit- 
ting  all  speculation  of  that  sort,  when  Virginia  unfolds 
the  scroll  of  her  immortal  sons  —  not  because  illustrious 
men  did  not  precede  him  gathering  in  constellations  and 
clusters,  but  because  the  name  shines  out  through  those 
constellations  and  clusters  in  all  its  peerless  grandeur  — 
we  read  first  the  name  of  George  Washington.  And  then, 
Mr.  President,  after  the  interval  of  three-quarters  of  a 
century,  when  your  jealous  eye  has  ranged  down  the 
record  and  traced  the  names  that  history  will  never  let 
die,  you  come  to  the  name  —  the  only  name  in  all  the 
annals  of  history  that  can  be  named  in  the  perilous 
connection  —  of  Robert  E.  Lee,  the  second  Washington. 
Well  may  old  Virginia  be  proud  of  her  twin  sons  !  born 
almost  a  century  apart,  but  shining  like  those  binary  stars 
which  open  their  glory  and  shed  their  splendor  on  the 
darkness  of  the  world. 

"  Sir,  it  is  not  an  artifice  of  rhetoric  which  suggests  this 
parallel  between  two  great  names  in  American  history ; 
for  the  suggestion  springs  spontaneously  to  every  mind, 
and  men  scarcely  speak  of  Lee  without  thinking  of  a 
mysterious  connection  that  binds  the  two  together.  They 


APPENDIX.  391 

were  alike  in  the  presage  of  their  early  history — the 
history  of  their  boyhood.  Both  earnest,  grave,  studious  ; 
both  alike  in  that  peculiar  purity  which  belongs  only  to  a 
noble  hoy,  and  which  makes  him  a  brave  and  noble  man, 
filling  the  page  of  a  history  spotless  until  closed  in  death  ; 
alike  in  that  commanding  presence  which  seems  to  be  the 
signature  of  Heaven,  sometimes  placed  on  a  great  soul 
when  to  that  soul  is  given  a  fit  dwelling-place;  alike  in 
that  noble  carriage  and  commanding  dignity,  exercising 
a  mesmeric  influence  and  a  hidden  power  which  could 
not  be  repressed  upon  all  who  came  within  its  charm ; 
alike  in  the  remarkable  combination  and  symmetry  of 
their  intellectual  attributes,  all  brought  up  to  the  same 
equal  level,  no  faculty  of  the  mind  overlapping  any 
other — all  so  equal,  so  well  developed,  the  judgment,  the 
reason,  the  memory,  the  fancy,  that  you  are  almost  dis- 
posed to  deny  them  greatness,  because  no  single  attribute 
of  the  mind  was  projected  upon  itself,  just  as  objects 
appear  sometimes  smaller  to  the  eye  from  the  exact  sym- 
metry and  beauty  of  their  proportions ;  alike,  above  all, 
in  that  soul-greatness,  that  Christian  virtue  to  which  so 
beautiful  a  tribute  has  been  paid  by  my  friend  whose 
high  privilege  it  was  to  be  a  compeer  and  comrade  with 
the  immortal  dead,  although  in  another  department  and 
sphere;  and  yet,  Mr.  President,  in  their  external  for- 
tune so  strangely  dissimilar  —  the  one  the  representative 
and  the  agent  of  a  stupendous  revolution,  which  it  pleased 
Heaven  to  bless,  and  thereby  give  birth  to  one  of  the 
mightiest  nations  on  the  globe  ;  the  other  the  representa- 
tive and  agent  of  a  similar  revolution,  upon  which  it 
pleased  high  Heaven  to  throw  the  darkness  of  its  frown  ; 
so  that,  bearing  upon  his  generous  heart  the  weight  of 
this  crushed  cause,  he  was  at  length  overwhelmed ;  and 


392  APPENDIX. 

the  nation,  whom  he  led  in  battle,  gathers  with  sponta- 
neity of  grief  over  all  this  land,  which  is  ploughed  with 
graves  and  reddened  with  blood,  and  the  tears  of  a 
widowed  nation  in  her  bereavement  are  shed  over  his 

honored  grave 

"  A  brilliant  English  writer  has  well  remarked,  with  a 
touch  of  sound  philosophy,  that  when  a  nation  has  rushed 
upon  its  fate,  the  whole  force  of  the  national  life  will 
sometimes  shoot  up  in  one  grand  character,  like  the  aloe, 
which  blooms  at  the  end  of  a  hundred  years,  shoots  up  in 
one  single  spike  of  glory,  and  then  expires.  And  where- 
ever  philosophy,  refinement,  and  culture,  have  gone  upon 
the  globe,  it  is  possible  to  place  the  finger  upon  individual 
men  who  are  the  exemplars  of  a  nation's  character,  those 
typical  forms  under  which  others  less  noble,  less  expanded, 
have  manifested  themselves.  That  gentle,  that  perfect 
moderation,  that  self-command  which  enabled  him  to  be 
so  self-possessed  amid  the  most  trying  difficulties  of  his 
public  career,  a  refinement  almost  such  as  that  which 
marks  the  character  of  the  purest  woman,  were  blended 
in  him  with  that  massive  strength,  that  mighty  endurance, 
that  consistency  and  power  which  gave  him  and  the 
people  whom  he  led  such  momentum  under  the  disadvan- 
tages of  the  struggle  through  which  he  passed.  Born 
from  the  general  level  of  American  society,  blood  of  a 
noble  ancestry  flowed  in  his  veins,  and  he  was  a  type  of 
the  race  from  which  he  sprang.  Such  was  the  grandeur 
and  urbaneness  of  his  manner,  the  dignity  and  majesty 
of  his  carriage,  that  his  only  peer  in  social  life  could  be 
found  in  courts  and  among  those  educated  amid  the  re- 
finements of  courts  and  thrones.  In  that  regard  it  was 
beautiful  and  appropriate  that  he  should  become,  in  the 
later  years  of  his  life,  the  educator  of  the  young.  Sir,  it 


APPENDIX.  393 

is  a  cause  for  mourning  before  high  Heaven  to-night  that 
he  was  not  spared  thirty  years  to  educate  a  generation  for 
the  time  that  is  to  come  ;  for,  as  in  the  days  when  the  red 
banner  streamed  over  the  land,  the  South  sent  her  sons  to 
fight  under  his  flag  and  beneath  the  wave  of  his  sword,  so 
these  sous  have  been  sent  again  to  sit  at  his  feet  when  he 
was  the  disciple  of  the  Muses  and  the  teacher  of  philoso- 
phy. Oh,  that  he  might  have  brought  his  more  than 
regal  character,  his  majestic  fame,  all  his  intellectual  and 
moral  endowments,  to  the  task  of  fitting  those  that  should 
come  in  the  crisis  of  the  future  to  take  the  mantle  that  had 
fallen  from  his  shoulders  and  bear  it  to  the  generations 
that  are  unborn ! 

"  General  Lee  I  accept  as  the  representative  of  his 
people,  and  of  the  temper  with  which  this  whole  South- 
land entered  into  that  gigantic,  that  prolonged,  and  that 
disastrous  struggle  which  has  closed,  but  closed  as  to  us 
in  grief. 

"  And  I  accept  this  noble  chieftain  equally  as  the  re- 
presentative of  this  Southland  in  the  spirit  of  his  retire- 
ment from  struggle.  It  could  not  escape  any  speaker 
upon  this  platform  to  allude  to  the  dignity  of  that  retire- 
ment;  how,  from  the  moment  he  surrendered,  he  withdrew 
from  observation,  holding  aloof  from  all  political  compli- 
cations, and  devoting  his  entire  energies  to  the  great  work 
he  had  undertaken  to  discharge.  In  this  he  represents 
the  true  attitude  of  the  South  since  the  close  of  the  war 
—  an  attitude  of  quiet  submission  to  the  conquering 
power  and  of  obedience  to  all  exactions ;  but  without  re- 
siling from  those  great  principles  which  were  embalmed 
in  the  struggle,  and  which,  as  the  convictions  of  a  lifetime, 
no  honest  mind  could  release. 

"  All  over  this  land  of  ours  there  are  men  like  Lee  — 


394  APPENDIX. 

not  as  great,  not  as  symmetrical  in  the  development  of 
character,  not  as  grand  in  the  proportions  which  they  have 
reached,  but  who,  like  him,  are  sleeping  upon  memories 
that  are  holy  as  death,  and  who,  amid  all  reproach,  ap- 
peal to  the  future,  and  to  the  tribunal  of  History,  when 
she  shall  render  her  final  verdict  in  reference  to  the 
struggle  closed,  for  the  vindication  of  the  people  em- 
barked in  that  struggle.  We  are  silent,  resigned,  obe- 
dient, and  thoughtful,  sleeping  upon  solemn  memories, 
Mr.  President ;  but,  as  said  by  the  poet-preacher  in  the 
Good  Book, '  I  sleep,  but  my  heart  waketh,'  looking  upon 
the  future  that  is  to  come,  and  powerless  in  everything  ex- 
cept to  pray  to  Almighty  God,  who  rules  the  destinies  of 
nations,  that  those  who  have  the  power  may  at  least  have 
the  grace  given  them  to  preserve  the  constitutional  prin- 
ciples which  we  have  endeavored  to  maintain.  And,  sir, 
were  it  my  privilege  to  speak  in  the  hearing  of  the  entire 
nation,  I  would  utter  with  the  profoundest  emphasis  this 
pregnant  truth :  that  no  people  ever  traversed  those  moral 
ideas  which  underlie  its  character,  its  constitution,  its  in- 
stitutions, and  its  laws,  that  did  not  in  the  end  perish  in 
disaster,  in  shame,  and  in  dishonor.  Whatever  be  the 
glory,  the  material  civilization,  of  which  such  a  nation 
may  boast,  it  still  holds  true  that  the  truth  is  immortal, 

and  that  ideas  rule  the  world 

"Sir,  there  is  a  unity  in  the  grapes  when  they  grow  to- 
gether in  the  clusters  upon  the  vine,  and  holding  the 
bunch  in  your  hand,  you  speak  of  it  as  one ;  but  there  is 
another  unity,  when  you  throw  these  grapes  into  the 
wine-press,  and  the  feet  of  those  that  bruise  these  grapes 
trample  them  almost  profanely  beneath  their  feet  to- 
gether in  the  communion  of  pure  wine.  And  such  is  the 
union  and  communion  of  hearts  that  have  been  fused  by 


APPENDIX.  395 

tribulation  and  sorrow,  and  that  meet  together  iu  the  true 
feeling  of  an  honest  grief  to  express  the  homage  of  their 
affection,  as  well  as  to  render  a  tribute  of  praise  to  him 
upon  whose  face  we  shall  never  look  until  on  that  immor- 
tal day  when  we  shall  behold  it  transfigured  before  the 
throne  of  God." 

ATLANTA,  GEOUOIA,  October  I5lh. 
GENERAL   JOHN    B.    GORDON. 

"  MY  FRIENDS  :  We  have  met  to  weep  —  to  mingle  our 
tears,  and  give  vent  to  our  bursting  hearts.  The  sorrow* 
ing  South,  already  clad  in  mourners'  weeds,  bows  her 
head  afresh  to-day  in  a  heart-stricken  orphanage;  and  if 
I  could  have  been  permitted  to  indulge  the  sensibilities 
of  my  heart,  I  would  have  fled  this  most  honorable  task, 
and  in  solitude  and  silence  have  wept  the  loss  of  the  great 
and  good  man  whose  death  we  so  deplore.  .  .  .  Grandly 
majestic  and  dignified  in  ^  all  his  deportment,  he  was 
genial  as  the  sunlight  of  this  beautiful  day,  and  not  a  ray 
of  that  cordial,  social  intercourse,  but  brought  warmth  to 
the  heart,  as  it  did  light  to  the  understanding. 

"  But  as  one  of  the  great  captains  will  General  Lee 
first  pass  review  and  inspection  before  the  criticism  of 
history.  We  will  not  compare  him  with  Washington. 
The  mind  will  halt  instinctively  at  the  comparison  of 
two  such  men,  so  equally  and  gloriously  great.  But  with 
modest,  yet  calm  and  unflinching  confidence,  we  place 
him  by  the  side  of  the  Marlboroughs  and  Wellingtons, 
who  take  high  niches  in  the  pantheon  of  immortality. 
Let  us  dwell  for  a  moment,  my  friends,  on  this  thought. 
Marlborough  never  met  defeat,  it  is  true.  Victory  marked 
every  step  of  his  triumphant  march ;  but  when,  where, 
and  whom  did  Marlborough  fight?  The  ambitious  and 


396  APPENDIX. 

vain,  but  able  Louis  XIV.  But  he  had  already  exhausted 
the  resources  of  his  kingdom  before  Marlborough  stepped 
upon  the  stage.  The  great  marshals,  Turenne  and  Conde, 
were  no  more,  and  Luxembourg  the  beloved  had  vanished 
from  the  scene.  Marlborough,  pre-eminently  great  as  he 
certainly  was,  nevertheless  led  the  combined  forces  of 
England  and  of  Holland,  in  the  freshness  of  their  strength 
and  the  fulness  of  their  financial  ability,  against  prostrate 
France,  with  a  treasury  depleted,  a  people  worn  out,  dis- 
couraged, and  dejected.  But  let  us  turn  to  another  com- 
parison. The  great  Von  Moltke,  who  now  rides  upon  the 
whirlwind  and  commands  the  storm  of  Prussian  invasion, 
has  recently  declared  that  General  Lee,  in  all  respects, 
was  fully  the  equal  of  Wellington ;  and  you  may  the  bet- 
ter appreciate  this  admission  when  you  remember  that 
Wellington  was  the  benefactor  of  Prussia,  and  probably 
Von  Moltke's  special  idol.  But  let  us  examine  the 
arguments  ourselves.  France  was  already  prostrate  when 
Wellington  met  Napoleon.  That  great  emperor  had 
seemed  to  make  war  upon  the  very  elements  themselves, 
to  have  contended  with  Nature,  and  to  have  almost  de- 
feated Providence  itself.  The  enemies  of  the  North, 
more  savage  than  Goth  or  Vandal,  mounting  the  swift 
gales  of  a  Russian  winter,  had  carried  death,  desolation, 
and  ruin  to  the  very  gates  of  Paris.  Wellington  fought 
at  Waterloo  a  bleeding  and  broken  nation  —  a  nation 
electrified,  it  is  true,  to  almost  superhuman  energy  by  the 
genius  of  Napoleon,  but  a  nation  prostrate  and  bleeding 
nevertheless.  Compare  this,  my  friends,  the  condition  of 
France  and  the  condition  of  the  United  States,  in  the 
freshness  of  her  strength,  in  the  luxuriance  of  her  re- 
sources, in  the  lustihood  of  her  gigantic  youth.  Tell  me 
whether  to  place  the  chaplet  of  military  superiority  with 


APPENDIX.  397 

him,  or  with  Marlborough,  or  Wellington?  Even  the 
greatest  of  captains,  in  his  Italian  campaigns,  flashing 
fame  in  lightning  splendor  over  the  world,  even  Bona- 
parte met  and  crushed  in  battle  but  three  or  four  (I 
think)  Austrian  armies;  while  our  Lee,  with  one  army 
badly  equipped,  in  time  incredibly  short,  met  and  hurled 
back  in  broken  and  shattered  fragments  h've  of  the  best 
prepared  and  most  magnificently  appointed  invasions. 
Yea,  more!  He  discrowned,  in  rapid  succession,  one  after 
another  of  the  United  States'  most  accomplished  and  ad- 
mirable commanders. 

"  Lee  was  never  really  defeated.  Lee  could  not  be  de- 
feated !  Overpowered,  foiled  in  his  efforts,  he  might  be ; 
but  never  defeated  until  the  props  which  supported  him 
gave  way.  Never,  until  the  platform  sank  beneath  him, 
did  any  enemy  ever  dare  pursue.  On  that  melancholy 
occasion,  the  downfall  of  the  Confederacy,  no  Leipsic,  no 
Waterloo,  no  Sedan,  can  ever  be  recorded. 

"General  Lee  is  known  to  the  world  as  a  military 
man  ;  but  it  is  easy  to  divine  from  his  history  how  mind- 
ful of  all  just  authority,  how  observant  of  all  constitu- 
tional restriction,  would  have  been  his  career  as  a  civilian. 
When,  near  the  conclusion  of  the  war,  darkness  was 
thickening  about  the  falling  fortunes  of  the  Confederacy, 
when  its  very  life  was  in  the  sword  of  Lee,  it  was  my 
proud  privilege  to  know  with  a  special  admiration  the 
modest  demeanor,  the  manly  decorum,  the  respectful  hom- 
age, which  marked  all  his  dealings  with  the  constituted  au- 
thorities of  his  country.  Clothed  with  all  power,  he  hid 
its  very  symbol  behind  a  genial  modesty,  and  refused  ever 
to  exert  it  save  in  obedience  to  law.  And  even  in  his 
triumphant  entry  into  the  territory  of  the  enemy,  so  re- 
gardful was  he  of  civilized  warfare,  that  the  observance 


398  APPENDIX. 

of  his  general  orders  as  to  private  property  and  private 
rights  left  the  line  of  his  march  marked  and  marred  by 
no  devastated  fields,  charred  ruins,  or  desolated  homes. 
But  it  is  his  private  character,  or  rather  I  should  say  his 
personal  emotion  and  virtue,  which  his  countrymen  will 
most  delight  to  consider  and  dwell  upon.  His  magna- 
nimity, transcending  all  historic  precedent,  seemed  to 
form  a  new  chapter  in  the  book  of  humanity.  Witness 
that  letter  to  Jackson,  after  his  wounds  at  Chancellors- 
ville,  in  which  he  said:  'I  am  praying  for  you  with  more 
fervor  than  I  ever  prayed  for  myself.'  And  that  other, 
more  disinterested  and  pathetic  :  '  I  could,  for  the  good 
of  my  country,  wish  that  the  wounds  which  you  have 
received  had  been  inflicted  upon  my  own  body.'  Or  that 
of  the  latter  message,  saying  to  General  Jackson  that 
'  his  wounds  were  not  so  severe  as  mine,  for  he  loses  but 
his  left  arm,  while  I,  in  his  loss,  lose  my  right."  Or  that 
other  expression  of  unequalled  magnanimity  which  en- 
abled him  to  ascribe  the  glory  of  their  joint  victory  to  the 
sole  credit  of  the  dying  hero.  Did  I  say  unequalled? 
Yes,  that  was  an  avowal  of  unequalled  magnanimity, 
until  it  met  its  parallel  in  his  own  grander  self-negation 
at  Gettysburg.  Aye,  my  countrymen,  Alexander  had  his 
Arbela,  Caesar  his  Pharsalia,  Napoleon  his  Austerlitz; 
but  it  was  reserved  for  Lee  to  grow  grander  and  more 
illustrious  in  defeat  than  even  in  victory — grander,  be- 
cause in  defeat  he  showed  a  spirit  greater  than  in  the 
heroism  of  battles,  or  all  the  achievements  of  war  —  a 
spirit  which  crowns  him  with  a  chaplet  grander  far  than 
ever  mighty  conqueror  wore. 

"  I  turn  me  now  to  that  last  closing  scene  at  Appomat- 
tox,  and  I  will  draw  thence  a  picture  of  that  man  as  he 
laid  aside  the  sword,  the  unrivalled  soldier,  to  become  the 
most  exemplary  of  citizens. 


APPENDIX.  399 

"  I  can  never  forget  the  deferential  homage  paid  this 
great  citizen  by  even  the  Federal  soldiers,  as  with  un- 
covered heads  they  contemplated,  in  mute  admiration, 
this  now  captive  hero,  as  he  rode  through  the  ranks. 
Impressed  forever,  daguerreotyped  on  my  heart  is  that 
last  parting  scene  with  that  handful  of  heroes  still  crowd- 
ing around  him.  Few  indeed  were  the  words  then 
spoken,  but  the  quivering  lip  and  the  tearful  eye  told  of 
the  love  they  bore  him,  in  symphonies  more  eloquent  than 
any  language  can  describe.  Can  I  ever  forget?  No, 
never  can  I  forget  the  words  which  fell  from  his  lips  as  I 
rode  beside  him  amid  the  defeated,  dejected,  and  weeping 
soldiery,  when,  turning  to  me,  he  said  :  '  I  could  wish  that 
I  was  numbered  among  the  fallen  in  the  last  battle.'  But 
oh  !  as  he  thought  of  the  loss  of  the  cause  —  of  the  many 
dead  scattered  over  so  many  fields,  who,  sleeping  neg- 
lected, with  no  governmental  arms  to  gather  up  their  re- 
mains —  sleeping  neglected,  isolated,  and  alone,  beneath 
the  weeping  stars,  with  naught  but  their  soldiers'  blankets 
about  them  !  —  oh  !  as  these  emotions  swept  over  his  great 
soul,  he  felt  that  he  would  have  laid  him  down  to  rest  in 
the  same  grave  where  lay  buried  the  common  hope  of  his 
people.  But  Providence  willed  it  otherwise.  He  rests 
now  forever,  my  countrymen,  his  spirit  in  the  bosom  of 
that  Father  whom  he  so  faithfully  served,  his  body  beside 
the  river  whose  banks  are  forever  memorable,  and  whose 
waters  are  vocal  with  the  glories  of  his  triumphs.  No 
sound  shall  ever  wake  him  to  martial  glory  again ;  no 
more  shall  he  lead  his  invincible  lines  to  victory;  no 
more  shall  we  gaze  upon  him  and  draw  from  his  quiet 
demeanor  lessons  of  life.  But  oh  !  it  is  a  sweet  consola- 
tion to  us,  my  countrymen,  who  loved  him,  that  no  more 
shall  his  bright  spirit  be  bowed  down  to  earth  with  the 


400  APPENDIX. 

burdens  of  the  people's  wrongs.  It  is  sweet  consolation 
to  us  that  his  last  victory,  through  i'aith  in  his  crucified 
Redeemer,  is  the  most  transcendently  glorious  of  all  his 
triumphs.  At  this  very  hour,  while  we  mourn  here,  kind 
friends  are  consigning  the  lust  that  remains  of  our  hero 
to  his  quiet  sleeping-place,  surrounded  by  the  mountains 
of  his  native  State  —  mountains,  the  autumnal  glory  of 
whose  magnificent  forests  to-day  seem  but  habiliments  of 
mourning.  In  the  valley,  the  pearly  dew-drops  seem  but 
tears  of  sadness  upon  the  grasses  and  flowers.  Let  him 
rest !  And  now  as  he  has  gone  from  us,  and  as  we  re- 
gard him  in  all  the  aspects  of  his  career  and  character  and 
attainments  as  a  great  captain,  ranking  among  the  first 
of  any  age :  as  a  patriot,  whose  sacrificing  devotion  to  his 
country  ranks  him  with  Washington ;  as  a  Christian,  like 
Havelock,  recognizing  his  duty  to  his  God  above  every 
other  earthly  consideration,  with  a  native  modesty  that  re- 
fused to  appropriate  the  glory  of  his  own  achievements,  and 
which  surrounds  now  his  entire  character  and  career  with 
a  halo  of  unfading  light;  with  an  integrity  of  life  and  a 
sacred  regard  for  truth  which  no  man  dare  assail ;  with  a 
fidelity  to  principle  which  no  misfortune  could  shake  — 
he  must  ever  stand  peerless  among  men  in  the  estimation 
of  Christendom,  this  representative  son  of  the  South, 
Robert  E.  Lee,  of  Virginia." 

AUGUSTA,  GEORGIA. 

At  a  meeting  held  in  this  city,  October  18th,  the  fol- 
lowing resolutions  were  adopted.  They  form  in  them- 
selves a  noble  tribute  to  the  departed  greatness  they  so 
eloquently  set  forth  : 

"WHEREAS,  This  day,  throughout  all  this  Southern 
land,  sorrow,  many-tongued,  is  ascending  to  heaven  for  the 


APPENDIX.  401 

death  of  Robert  E.  Lee,  and  communities  everywhere  are 
honoring  themselves  in  striving  to  do  honor  to  that  great 
name ;  and  we,  the  people  of  Augusta,  who  were  not  lag- 
gards in  upholding  his  glorious  banner  while  it  floated  to 
the  breeze,  would  swell  the  general  lamentation  of  his 
departure  ;  therefore  be  it 

"  Resolved,  That  no  people  in  the  tide  of  time  has  been 
bereaved  as  we  are  bereaved ;  for  no  other  people  has 
had  such  a  man  to  lose.  Greece,  rich  in  heroes ;  Rome, 
prolific  mother  of  great  citizens,  —  so  that  the  name  of 
Roman  is  the  synonym  of  all  that  is  noblest  in  citizenship 
—  had  no  man  corning  up  to  the  full  measure  of  this  great 
departed.  On  scores  of  battle-fields,  consummate  com- 
mander ;  everywhere,  bravest  soldier  ;  in  failure,  sublimest 
hero;  in  disbanding  his  army,  most  pathetic  of  writers; 
in  persecution,  most  patient  of  power's  victims  ;  in  private 
life,  purest  of  men  —  he  was  such  that  all  Christendom, 
with  one  consent,  named  him  GREAT.  We,  recalling  that 
so  also  mankind  have  styled  Alexander,  Caesar,  Frederick, 
and  Napoleon,  and  beholding  in  the  Confederate  leader 
qualities  higher  and  better  than  theirs,  find  that  language 
poor  indeed  which  only  enables  us  to  call  him  'great'  — 
him  standing  among  the  great  of  all  ages  pre-eminent. 

"  Resolved,  That  our  admiration  of  the  man  is  not  the 
partial  judgment  of  his  adherents  only;  but  so  clear 
stand  his  greatness  and  his  goodness,  that  even  the  bit- 
terest of  foes  has  not  ventured  to  asperse  him.  While 
the  air  has  been  filled  with  calumnies  and  revilings  of 
his  cause,  none  have  been  aimed  at  him.  If  there  are 
spirits  so  base  that  they  cannot  discover  and  reverence 
his  greatness  and  his  goodness,  they  have  at  least  shrunk 
from  encountering  the  certain  indignation  of  mankind. 
This  day  —  disfranchised  by  stupid  power  as  he  was; 
34  *  -J  A 


402  APPENDIX. 

branded,  as  he  was,  in  the  perverted  vocabulary  of  usurp- 
ers as  rebel  and  traitor  —  his  death  has  even  in  distant 
lands  moved  more  tongues  and  stirred  more  hearts  than 
the  siege  of  a  mighty  city  and  the  triumphs  of  a  great 
king. 

"Resolved,  That,  while  he  died  far  too  soon  for  his 
country,  he  had  lived  long  enough  for  his  fame.  This 
was  complete,  and  the  future  could  unfold  nothing  to  add 
to  it.  In  this  age  of  startling  changes,  imagination  might 
have  pictured  him,  even  in  the  years  which  he  yet  lacked 
of  the  allotted  period  of  human  life,  once  more  at  the 
head  of  devoted  armies  and  the  conqueror  of  glorious 
fields;  but  none  could  have  been  more  glorious  than 
those  he  had  already  won.  Wrong,  too,  might  again 
have  triumphed  over  Right,  and  he  have  borne  defeat 
with  sublimest  resignation;  but  this  he  had  already  done 
at  Appomattox.  Unrelenting  hate  to  his  lost  cause  might 
have  again  consigned  him  to  the  walks  of  private  life, 
and  he  have  become  an  exemplar  of  all  the  virtues  of  a 
private  station  ;  but  this  he  had  already  been  in  the  shades 
of  Lexington.  The  contingencies  of  the  future  could 
only  have  revealed  him  greatest  soldier,  sublimest  hero, 
best  of  men  ;  and  he  was  already  all  of  these.  The  years 
to  come  were  barren  of  anything  which  could  add  to  his 
perfect  name  and  fame.  He  had  nothing  to  lose ;  but, 
alas!  we,  his  people,  everything  by  his  departure  from 
this  world,  which  was  unworthy  of  him,  to  that  other 
where  the  good  and  the  pure  of  all  ages  will  welcome  him. 
Thither  follow  him  the  undying  love  of  every  true  South- 
ern man  and  woman,  and  the  admiration  of  all  the 
world." 


APPENDIX.  403 

COLUMBIA,  SOUTH  CAROLINA. 

GENERAL    WADE    HAMPTON. 

"  FELLOW-CITIZENS  :  —  We  are  called  together  to-day 
by  an  announcement  which  will  cause  profound  sorrow 
throughout  the  civilized  world,  and  which  comes  to  us 
bearing  the  additional  grief  of  a  personal  and  private  be- 
reavement. The  foremost  man  in  all  the  world  is  no 
more ;  and,  as  that  news  is  carried  by  the  speed  of  light- 
ning through  every  town,  village,  and  hamlet  of  this  land 
he  loved  so  well,  and  among  those  people  who  loved,  hon- 
ored and  venerated  him  so  profoundly,  every  true  heart 
in  the  stricken  South  will  feel  that  the  country  has  lost 
its  pride  and  glory,  and  that  the  citizens  of  that  country 
have  lost  a  father.  I  dare  not  venture  to  speak  of  him 
as  I  feel.  Nor  do  we  come  to  eulogize  him.  Not  only 
wherever  the  English  language  is  spoken,  but  wherever 
civilization  extends,  the  sorrow  —  a  part  at  least  of  the 
sorrow  —  we  feel  will  be  felt,  and  more  eloquent  tongues 
than  mine  will  tell  the  fame  and  recount  the  virtues  of 
Robert  E.  Lee.  We  need  not  come  to  praise  him.  We 
come  only  to  express  our  sympathy,  our  grief,  our  be- 
reavement. We  come  not  to  mourn  him,  for  we  know 
that  it  is  well  with  him.  We  come  only  to  extend  our 
sympathy  to  those  who  are  bereaved. 

"  Now  that  he  is  fallen,  I  may  mention  what  I  have 
never  spoken  of  before,  to  show  you  not  only  what  were 
the  feelings  that  actuated  him  in  the  duty  to  which  his 
beloved  countrymen  called  him,  but  what  noble  senti- 
ments inspired  him  when  he  saw  the  cause  for  which  he 
had  been  fighting  so  long,  about  to  perish. 

"Just  before  the  surrender,  after  a  night  devoted  to 
the  most  arduous  duties,  as  one  of  his  staff  came  in  to 
see  him  in  the  morning,  he  found  him  worn  and  weary 


404  APPENDIX. 

and  disheartened,  and  the  general  said  to  him,  '  How 
easily  I  could  get  rid  of  this  and  be  at  rest !  I  have  only 
to  ride  along  the  line,  and  all  will  be  over.  But,'  —  and 
then  there  spoke  the  Christian  patriot  —  'it  is  our  duty 
to  live,  for  what  will  become  of  the  women  and  children 
of  the  South  if  we  are  not  here  to  protect  them  ?  '  That 
same  spirit  of  duty  which  had  actuated  him  through  all 
the  perils  and  all  the  hardships  of  that  unequalled  con- 
flict which  he  had  waged  so  heroically,  that  same  high 
spirit  of  duty  told  him  that  he  must  live  to  show  that  he 
was  great  —  greater,  if  that  were  possible,  in  peace  than 
in  war ;  live  to  teach  the  people  whom  he  had  before  led 
to  victory  how  to  bear  defeat ;  live  to  show  what  a  great 
and  good  man  can  accomplish ;  live  to  set  an  example  to 
his  people  for  all  time;  live  to  bear,  if  nothing  else,  his 
share  of  the  sorrows,  and  the  afflictions,  and  the  troubles, 
which  had  come  upon  his  people.  He  is  now  at  rest ; 
and  surely  we  of  the  South  can  say  of  him,  as  we  say  of 
his  great  exemplar,  'the  Father  of  his  Country,'  that  'he 
was  first  in  war,  first  in  peace,  and  first  in  the  hearts  of 
his  countrymen.'" 

At  a  meeting  held  in  Baltimore,  later  in  October,  to 
form  a  Lee  Monument  Association,  the  following  address 
was  made  by 

HON.   REVERDY   JOHNSON. 

"  MR.  CHAIRMAN  AND  GENTLEMEN  :  —  I  am  here  in 
compliance  with  the  request  of  many  gentlemen  present, 
and  I  not  only  willingly  comply  with  that  request,  but  I 
am  willing  to  do  all  I  am  able  to  show  my  appreciation 
of  the  character,  civil  and  military,  of  Robert  E.  Lee. 
It  was  my  good  fortune  to  know  him  before  the  Mexican 
war,  in  those  better  days  before  the  commencement  of 


APPENDIX.  405 

the  sad  struggle  through  which  we  have  recently  passed. 
I  saw  in  him  everything  that  could  command  the  respect 
and  admiration  of  men,  and  I  watched  with  peculiar  in- 
terest his  course  in  the  Mexican  war.  It  was  also  my 
good  fortune  to  know  the  late  Lieutenant-Genera]  Scott. 
In  the  commencement  of  the  struggle  to  which  I  have 
alluded,  I  occupied  in  Washington  the  position  of  quasi 
military  adviser  to  him,  and  was,  in  that  capacity,  inti- 
mately associated  with  him.  I  have  often  heard  him  de- 
clare that  the  glorious  and  continued  success  which 
crowned  our  arms  in  the  war  with  Mexico  was  owing,  in 
a  large  measure,  to  the  skill,  valor,  and  undaunted  cour- 
age of  Robert  E.  Lee.  He  entertained  for  him  the 
warmest  personal  friendship,  and  it  was  his  purpose  to 
recommend  him  as  his  successor  in  the  event  of  his  death 
or  inability  to  perform  the  duties  of  his  high  position. 
In  April,  1861,  after  the  commencement  of  hostilities  be- 
tween the  two  great  sections  of  our  country,  General  Lee, 
then  lieutenant -colonel  of  cavalry  in  the  army  of  the 
United  States,  offered  his  resignation.  I  was  with  General 
Scott  when  he  was  handed  the  letter  of  resignation,  and  I 
saw  what  pain  the  fact  caused  him.  While  he  regretted 
the  step  his  most  valuable  officer  had  taken,  he  never 
failed  to  say  emphatically,  and  over  and  over  again,  that 
he  believed  he  had  taken  it  from  an  imperative  sense  of 
duly.  He  was  also  consoled  by  the  belief  that  if  he  was 
placed  at  the  head  of  the  armies  of  the  then  Confedera- 
tion, he  would  have  in  him  a  foeman  in  every  way  worthy 
of  him,  and  one  who  would  conduct  the  war  upon  the 
highest  principles  of  civilized  warfare,  and  that  he  would 
not  suffer  encroachments  to  be  made  upon  the  rights  of 
private  property  and  the  rights  of  unoffending  citizens. 
"Some  may  be  surprised  that  I  am  here  to  eulogize 


406  APPENDIX. 

Robert  E.  Lee.  It  is  well  known  that  I  did  not  agree 
with  him  in  his  political  views.  At  the  beginning  of  the 
late  war,  and  for  many  years  preceding  it,  even  from  the 
foundation  of  this  government,  two  great  questions  agi- 
tated the  greatest  minds  of  this  country.  Many  believed 
that  the  allegiance  of  the  citizen  was  due  first  to  his  State, 
and  many  were  of  the  opinion  that,  according  to  the  true 
reading  of  the  Constitution,  a  State  had  no  right  to  leave 
the  Union  and  claim  sovereign  rights  and  perpetual  alle- 
giance of  her  citizens.  I  did  not  agree  in  the  first-named 
opinion,  but  I  knew  it  was  honestly  entertained.  I  knew 
men  of  the  purest  character,  of  the  highest  ability,  and 
of  the  most  liberal  and  patriotic  feelings  who  conscien- 
tiously believed  it. 

"  Now  the  war  is  over,  thank  God  !  and  in  that  thank- 
fulness I  am  sure  this  meeting  will  unite.  It  is  the  duty 
of  every  citizen  of  this  land  to  seek  to  heal  the  wounds  of 
the  war,  to  forget  past  differences  and  to  forgive  as  far  as 
possible  the  faults  to  which  the  war  gave  rise.  In  no 
other  way  can  the  Union  be  truly  and  permanently  re- 
stored. We  are  now  together  as  a  band  of  brothers. 
The  soldiers  of  the  Confederacy,  headed  by  the  great 
chief  we  now  mourn,  have  expressed  their  willingness  to 
abide  by  the  issue  of  the  contest.  What  a  spectacle  to 
the  world!  After  years  of  military  devastation,  with  tens 
of  thousands  dead  on  her  battle-fields,  with  the  flower  of 
her  children  slain,  with  her  wealth  destroyed,  her  com- 
merce swept  away,  her  agriculture  and  mechanical  pur- 
suits almost  ruined,  the  South  yielded.  The  North,  vic- 
torious and  strong,  could  not  forget  what  she  owed  to 
liberty  and  human  rights.  We  may  well  swear  now  that 
as  long  as  liberty  is  virtuous  we  will  be  brothers. 

"  Robert  E.  Lee  is  worthy  of  all  praise.     As  a  man,  he 


APPENDIX.  407 

was  peerless ;  as  a  soldier,  he  had  no  equal  and  no  supe- 
rior;  as  a  humane  and  Christian  soldier,  he  towers  high 
in  the  political  horizon. 

"  You  cannot  imagine  with  what  delight,  when  I  had 
the  honor  to  represent  this  country  at  the  Court  of  Great 
Britain,  I  heard  the  praises  of  his  fame  and  character 
which  came  from  soldiers  and  statesmen.  I  need  not 
speak  of  the  comparative  merits  of  General  Lee,  and  the 
Union  generals  who  opposed  him;  this  is  not  the  place  or 
time  for  a  discussion  of  their  respective  successes  and  de- 
feats;  but  I  may  say  that,  as  far  as  I  was  able  to  judge 
of  the  sentiments  of  the  military  men  of  Great  Britain, 
they  thought  none  of  the  Union  officers  superior  to  Gene- 
ral Robert  E.  Lee.  Their  admiration  for  him  was  not 
only  on  account  of  his  skill  on  the  battle-field,  and  the 
skilful  manner  with  which  he  planned  and  executed  his 
campaigns,  but  the  humane  manner  in  which  he  performed 
his  sad  duty.  They  alluded  specially  to  his  conduct  when 
invading  the  territory  of  his  enemy  —  his  restraint  upon 
his  men,  telling  them  that  the  honor  of  the  army  de- 
pended upon  the  manner  of  conducting  the  war  in  the 
enemy's  country  —  and  his  refusal  to  resort  to  retaliatory 
measures.  I  know  that  great  influences  were  brought  to 
bear  upon  him,  when  he  invaded  Pennsylvania,  to  induce 
him  to  consent  to  extreme  measures.  His  answer,  how- 
ever, was :  '  No  ;  if  I  suffer  my  army  to  pursue  the  course 
recommended,  I  cannot  invoke  the  blessing  of  God  upon 
my  arms.'  He  would  not  allow  his  troops  to  destroy 
private  property  or  to  violate  the  rights  of  the  citizen. 
When  the  necessities  of  his  army  compelled  the  taking 
of  commissary  stores  by  his  orders,  his  officers  paid  for 
them  in  Confederate  money  at  their  then  valuation.  No 
burning  homesteads  illumined  his  march  —  no  shivering 


408  APPENDIX. 

and  helpless  children  were  turned  out  of  their  homes  to 
witness  their  destruction  by  the  torch.  With  him  all  the 
rules  of  civilized  war,  having  the  higher  sanction  of  God, 
were  strictly  observed.  The  manly  fortitude  with  which 
he  yielded  at  Appomattox  to  three  times  his  numbers 
showed  that  he  was  worthy  of  the  honors  and  the  fame 
the  South  had  given  him.  This  is  not  the  first  time  since 
the  termination  of  the  war  I  have  expressed  admiration 
and  friendship  for  Robert  E.  Lee.  When  I  heard  that 
he  was  about  to  be  prosecuted  in  a  Virginia  Court  for  the 
alleged  crime  of  treason,  I  wrote  to  him  at  once,  and 
with  all  my  heart,  that  if  he  believed  I  could  be  of  any 
service  to  him,  professionally,  I  was  at  his  command. 
All  the  ability  I  possess,  increased  by  more  than  fifty 
years  of  study  and  experience,  would  have  been  cheerfully 
exerted  to  have  saved  him,  for  in  saving  him  I  believe  I 
would  have  been  saving  the  honor  of  my  country.  I  re- 
ceived a  characteristic  reply  in  terms  of  friendship  and 
grateful  thanks.  He  wrote  that  he  did  not  think  the 
prosecution  would  take  place.  Hearing,  however,  some 
time  after,  that  the  prosecution  would  commence  at  Rich- 
mond, I  went  at  once  to  that  city  and  saw  his  legal  ad- 
viser, Hon.  William  H.  McFarland,  one  of  the  ablest 
men  of  the  bar  of  Virginia.  Mr.  McFarland  showed 
me  a  copy  of  a  letter  from  General  Lee  to  General 
Grant,  enclosing  an  application  for  a  pardon,  which  he 
desired  General  Grant  to  present  to  the  President, 
but  telling  him  not  to  present  it  if  any  steps  had  been 
taken  for  his  prosecution,  as  he  was  willing  to  stand  the 
test.  He  wrote  that  he  had  understood  by  the  terms  of 
surrender  at  Appomattox,  that  he  and  all  his  officers  and 
men  were  to  be  protected.  That  letter,  I  am  glad  to  say, 
raised  General  Lee  higher  in  my  esteem.  General  Grant 


APPENDIX.  409 

at  once  replied,  and  he  showed  his  reply  to  me.  He  wrote 
that  he  had  seen  the  President,  and  protested  against  any 
steps  being  taken  against  General  Lee,  and  had  informed 
him  that  he  considered  his  honor  and  the  honor  of  the 
nation  pledged  to  him. 

"The  President  became  .satisfied,  and  no  proceedings 
were  ever  taken.  General  Grant  transmitted  to  the 
President  the  application  of  General  Lee  for  pardon,  in- 
dorsed with  his  most  earnest  approval.  No  pardon  was 
granted.  He  did  not  need  it  here,  and  when  he  appears 
before  that  great  tribunal  before  which  we  must  all  be 
called,  he  will  find  he  has  no  account  to  settle  there.  No 
soldier  who  followed  General  Lee  could  have  felt  more  grief 
and  sympathy  at  his  grave  than  I  would,  could  I  have  been 
present  upon  the  mournful  occasion  of  his  burial.  I  la- 
mented his  death  as  a  private  loss,  and  still  more  as  a  public 
loss.  I  knew  that  his  example  would  continue  to  allay 
the  passions  aroused  by  the  war,  and  which  I  was  not  sur- 
prised were  excited  by  some  acts  in  that  war.  I  love  my 
country  ;  I  am  jealous  of  her  honor.  I  cherish  her  good 
name,  and  I  am  proud  of  the  land  of  my  birth.  I  forbear 
to  criticise  the  lives  of  her  high  officers  and  servants,  but 
I  can  say  with  truth  that,  during  the  late  war,  the  laws 
of  humanity  were  forgotten  and  the  higher  orders  of  God 
were  trodden  under  foot. 

"  The  resolutions  need  no  support  which  human  lips  can 
by  human  language  give.  Their  subject  is  their  support. 
The  name  of  Lee  appeals  at  once,  and  strongly,  to  every 
true  heart  in  this  land,  and  throughout  the  world.  Let 
political  partisans,  influenced  by  fanaticism  and  the  hope 
of  political  plunder,  find  fault  with  and  condemn  us. 
They  will  be  forgotten,  when  the  name  of  Lee  will  be 
resplendent  with  immortal  glory. 


410  APPENDIX. 

"  Mr.  Chairman  and  gentlemen,  in  the  course  of  nature 
my  career  upon  earth  must  soon  terminate.  God  grant 
that  when  the  day  of  my  death  comes,  I  may  look  up  to 
heaven  with  that  confidence  and  faith  which  the  life  and 
character  of  Robert  E.  Lee  gave  him.  He  died  trusting 
in  God  as  a  good  man,  with  a  good  life  and  a  pure  con- 
science. He  was  consoled  with  the  knowledge  that  the 
religion  of  Christ  had  ordered  all  his  ways,  and  he  knew 
that  the  verdict  of  God  upon  the  account  he  would  have 
to  render  in  Heaven  would  be  one  of  judgment,  seasoned 
with  mercy.  He  had  a  right  to  believe  that  when  God 
passed  judgment  upon  the  account  of  his  life,  though  He 
would  find  him  an  erring  human  being,  He  would  find 
virtue  enough  and  religious  faith  enough  to  save  him 
from  any  other  verdict,  than  that  of  '  well  done  good  and 
faithful  servant.' 

"  The  monument  will  be  raised,  and  when  it  is  raised, 
many  a  man  will  visit  Richmond  to  stand  beside  it,  to  do 
reverence  to  the  remains  it  may  cover,  and  to  say,  '  Here 
lie  the  remains  of  one  of  the  noblest  men  who  ever  lived 
or  died  in  America.'  " 

REMARKS    OF    HON.    OEO.    \VM.    BROWN. 

At  the  conclusion  of  Mr.  Johnson's  address,  Hon.  Geo. 
Win.  Brown  said : 

"MR.  CHAIRMAN  AND  GENTLEMEN:  —  The  able  and 
eloquent  gentlemen  who  have  preceded  me,  have  left  but 
little  for  me  to  say.  I  rise,  however,  to  express  my  hearty 
assent  to  the  resolutions.  Their  broad  and  liberal  views 
are  worthy  of  the  great  and  good  man  whose  virtues  and 
fame  we  seek  to  commemorate.  He  has  passed  away  from 
earth,  and  our  blame  or  censure  are  nothing  to  him  now. 
The  most  eloquent  eulogies  that  human  lips  can  utter,  and 


APPENDIX.  411 

the  loftiest  monuments  that  human  hands  can  build,  cannot 
affect  him  now.  But  it  is  a  satisfaction  to  us  to  know 
that  expressions  of  the  love  for  him  which  lives  in  every 
Southern  heart  —  aye,  in  many  a  Northern  heart  —  were 
heard  long  before  his  death,  and  that  honor  shed  noble 
lustre  around  the  last  years  of  his  life,  lie  was  the  rep- 
resentative of  a  lost  cause;  he  had  sheathed  his  sword  for- 
ever ;  he  had  surrendered  his  army  to  superior  numbers ; 
he  was  broken  in  fortune  and  in  health,  and  was  only 
president  of  a  Virginia  college,  yet  he  was  one  of  the 
foremost  men  of  all  the  world.  It  has  been  said  of  General 
Lee,  as  it  has  been  said  of  Washington,  that  he  was  defi- 
cient in  genius.  His  character  was  so  complete,  that  what 
would  have  seemed  evidence  of  genius  with  other  men, 
was  lost  in  the  combination  of  his  character  and  mind. 
He  was  always,  and  especially  in  every  great  crisis,  a 
leader  among  men.  During  the  four  years  of  his  educa- 
tion at  West  Point,  he  did  not  receive  a  single  reprimand. 
As  a  cavalry  officer,  wherever  he  went,  he  was  a  marked 
man,  and  when  General  Scott  made  his  wonderful  march 
to  the  capital  of  Mexico,  Captain  Lee  was  his  right  arm. 
At  the  commencement  of  the  late  war,  though  only  a 
lieutenant-colonel  of  cavalry,  he  was  offered  the  command 
of  the  armies  of  the  United  States.  What  a  prize  for 
ambition!  Fortune,  fame,  and  honors  awaited  him! 
Where  would  he  have  been  to-day?  Probably  in  the 
Presidential  chair  of  this  great  nation.  But  he  rejected 
all  to  take  his  chance  with  his  own  people,  and  to  unite 
with  them  in  their  resistance  to  the  vast  numbers  and 
resources  which  he  knew  the  North  was  able  to  bring 
against  them.  There  is  nothing  more  remarkable  in  the 
annals  of  warfare  than  the  success  with  which  General 
Lee  defeated  for  years  the  armies  of  the  United  States. 
Consider  the  six  days'  battles  around  Richmond ;  the 


412  APPENDIX. 

second  battle  of  Mantissas ;  the  battles  at  Antietara, 
Fredericksburg,  and  Gettysburg ;  the  wonderful  contest 
at  Chancellorsville;  then,  again,  the  remarkable  battle 
of  the  Wilderness,  in  which  it  has  been  said  by  Federal 
authority  that  General  Lee  actually  killed  as  many  men 
as  he  had  under  his  command  ;  the  defence  of  Cold  Har- 
bor; the  prolonged  defence  of  Richmond  and  Petersburg, 
and  the  admirably  conducted  retreat  with  but  a  handful 
before  an  immense  army.  Well  has  he  been  spoken  of  as 
'  the  incomparable  strategist.'  Did  any  man  ever  fight 
against  more  desperate  odds  or  resources?  But  not  merely 
as  a  great  general  is  General  Lee  to  be  admired.  He 
claims  our  admiration  as  a  great  man  —  great  in  ad- 
versity. I  think  there  is  nothing  more  admirable  in  all 
his  life  than  his  conduct  in  assuming  the  sole  responsi- 
bility at  Gettysburg.  In  the  midst  of  defeat,  Lee  was 
calm,  unmoved,  showing  no  fear  where  despair  would 
have  been  in  the  heart  of  any  other  general,  and  saying 
to  his  officers  and  men,  '  The  fault  is  all  mine.' 

"  Let  the  monument  be  raised  not  merely  by  soldiers 
of  General  Lee,  but  by  all  men,  no  matter  of  what  poli- 
tical feelings,  who  appreciate  and  honor  that  which  is 
manly,  great,  and  patriotic.  The  monument  at  Richmond 
will  be  the  resort  of  pilgrims  from  the  North  as  well  as 
from  the  South,  and  the  grave  of  Lee  will  be  second  only, 
in  the  hearts  of  the  people,  to  the  grave  of  Washington." 

RICHMOND,  VIRGINIA. 

At  a  Memorial  Meeting  held  here,  November  3d,  Hon. 
Jefferson  Davis  addressed  the  Assembly. 

REMARKS   OF    PRESIDENT    DAVIS. 

The  Dispatch  says :  As  Mr.  Davis  arose  to  walk  to  the 
stand,  every  person  in  the  house  rose  to  his  feet ;  and  there 


APPENDIX.  413 

followed  such  a  storm  of  applause  as  seemed  to  shake  the 
very  foundations  of  the  building,  while  cheer  upon  cheer 
was  echoed  from  the  throats  of  veterans  saluting  one  whom 
tliey  delighted  to  honor. 

Mr.  Davis  spoke  at  length,  and  with  his  accustomed, 
thrilling,  moving  eloquence.  We  shall  not  attempt,  at 
the  late  hour  at  which  we  write,  to  give  a  full  report  of 
his  address. 

He  addressed  his  hearers  as :  "  Soldiers  and  sailors  of 
the  Confederacy,  comrades  and  friends : 

"Assembled  on  this  sad  occasion,  with  hearts  op- 
pressed with  the  grief  that  follows  the  loss  of  him  who 
was  our  leader  on  many  a  bloody  battle-field,  a  pleasing, 
though  melancholy  spectacle,  is  presented.  Hitherto, 
and  in  all  times,  men  have  been  honored  when  successful ; 
but  here  is  the  case  of  one  who,  amid  disasters,  went  down 
to  his  grave,  and  those  who  were  his  companions  in  mis- 
fortune have  assembled  to  honor  his  memory.  It  is  as 
much  an  honor  to  you  who  give,  as  to  him  who  receives ; 
for,  above  the  vulgar  test  of  merit,  you  show  yourselves 
competent  to  discriminate  between  him  who  enjoys  and 
him  who  deserves  success. 

"  Robert  E.  Lee  was  my  associate  and  friend  in  the 
military  academy,  and  we  were  friends  until  the  hour  of 
his  death.  We  were  associates  and  friends  when  he  was 
a  soldier  and  I  a  congressman  ;  and  associates  and  friends 
when  he  led  the  armies  of  the  Confederacy,  and  I  presided 
in  its  Cabinet.  We  passed  through  many  sad  scenes  to- 
gether, but  I  cannot  remember  that  there  was  ever  aught 
but  perfect  harmony  between  us.  If  ever  there  was  dif- 
ference of  opinion,  it  was  dissipated  by  discussion,  and 
harmony  was  the  result.  I  repeat,  we  never  disagreed, 
and  I  may  add  that  I  never  in  my  life  saw  in  him  the 
35* 


414  APPENDIX. 

• 

slightest  tendency  to  self-seeking.  It  was  not  his  to  make 
a  record,  it  was  not  his  to  shift  blame  to  other  shoulders ; 
but  it  was  his  with  an  eye  fixed  upon  the  welfare  of  his 
country,  never  faltering  to  follow  the  line  of  duty  to  the 
end.  His  was  the  heart  that  braved  every  difficulty  ;  his 
was  the  mind  that  wrought  victory  out  of  defeat. 

"He  has  been  charged  with  'want  of  dash.'  I  wish  to 
say  that  I  never  knew  Lee  to  hesitate  to  attempt  anything 
ever  man  could  dare.  An  attempt  also  has  been  made 
to  throw  a  cloud  upon  his  character,  because  he  left  the 
army  of  the  United  States  to  join  in  the  struggle  for  the 
liberty  of  his  State.  Without  trenching  at  all  upon 
politics,  I  deem  it  my  duty  to  say  one  word  in  reference 
to  this  charge.  Virginian  born,  descended  from  a  fam- 
ily illustrious  in  Virginia's  annals,  given  by  Virginia 
to  the  service  of  the  United  States,  he  represented  her 
in  the  Military  Academy  at  West  Point.  He  was  not 
educated  by  the  Federal  Government,  but  by  Virginia  ; 
for  she  paid  her  full  share  for  the  support  of  that  institu- 
tion, and  was  entitled  to  demand  in  return  the  services 
of  her  sons.  Entering  the  army  of  the  United  States,  he 
represented  Virginia  there  also,  and  nobly.  On  many  a 
hard-fought  field  Lee  was  conspicuous,  battling  for  his 
native  State  as  much  as  for  the  Union.  He  came  from 
Mexico  crowned  with  honors,  covered  by  brevets,  and 
recognized,  young  as  he  was,  as  one  of  the  ablest  of  his 
country's  soldiers.  And  to  prove  that  he  was  estimated 
then  as  such,  let  me  tell  you  that  when  Lee  was  a  captain 
of  engineers,  stationed  in  Baltimore,  the  Cuban  Junta  in 
New  York  selected  him  to  be  their  leader  in  the  struggle 
for  the  independence  of  their  native  country.  They  were 
anxious  to  secure  his  services,  and  offered  him  every 
temptation  that  ambition  could  desire.  He  thought  the 


APPENDIX.  415 

• 

matter  over,  and,  I  remember,  came  to  Washington  to 
consult  me  as  to  what  he  should  do ;  and  when  I  began  to 
discuss  the  complications  which  might  arise  from  his  ac- 
ceptance of  the  trust,  he  gently  rebuked  me,  saying  that 
this  was  not  the  line  upon  which  he  wished  my  advice  — 
the  simple  question  was,  '  Whether  it  was  right  or  not?' 
He  had  been  educated  by  the  United  States,  and  felt  it 
wrong  to  accept  a  place  in  the  army  of  a  foreign  power. 
Such  was  his  extreme  delicacy,  such  was  the  nice  sense 
of  honor  of  the  gallant  gentleman  whose  death  we  de- 
plore. But  when  Virginia  withdrew  —  the  State  to  whom 
he  owed  his  first  and  last  allegiance  —  the  same  nice 
sense  of  honor  led  him  to  draw  his  sword,  and  throw  it  in 
the  scale  for  good  or  for  evil.  Pardon  me  for  this  brief 
defence  of  my  illustrious  friend. 

"  When  Virginia  joined  the  Confederacy,  Robert  Lee, 
the  highest  officer  in  the  little  army  of  Virginia,  came  to 
Richmond,  and  not  pausing  to  inquire  what  would  be  his 
rank  in  the  service  of  the  Confederacy,  went  to  Western 
Virginia  under  the  belief  that  he  was  still  an  officer  of 
the  State.  He  came  back,  carrying  the  heavy  weight  of 
defeat,  and  unappreciated  by  the  people  whom  he  served, 
for  they  could  not  know,  as  I  knew,  that  if  his  plans  and 
orders  had  been  carried  out,  the  result  would  have  been 
victory  rather  than  retreat.  You  did  not  know  it ;  for  I 
would  not  have  known  it,  had  he  not  breathed  it  in  my 
ear  only  at  my  earnest  request,  and  begging  that  nothing 
be  said  about  it.  The  clamor  which  then  arose  followed 
him  when  he  went  to  South  Carolina,  so  that  it  became 
necessary  on  his  going  to  South  Carolina  to  write  a  letter 
to  the  Governor  of  that  State,  telling  him  what  manner 
of  man  he  was.  Yet,  through  all  this,  with  a  magna- 
nimity rarely  equalled,  he  stood  in  silence,  without  de- 


416  APPENDIX. 

fending  himself,  or  allowing  others  to  defend  him,  for  he 
was  unwilling  to  offend  anyone  who  was  wearing  a  sword 
and  striking  blows  for  the  Confederacy." 

Mr.  Davis  then  spoke  of  the  straits  to  which  the  Con- 
federacy was  reduced,  and  of  the  danger  to  which  her 
capital  was  exposed  just  after  the  battle  of  Seven  Pines, 
and  told  how  General  Lee  had  conceived  and  executed 
the  desperate  plan  to  turn  the  flank  and  rear  of  the  en- 
emy, which,  after  seven  days  of  bloody  battle,  was  crowned 
with  the  protection  of  liichmond,  while  the  enemy  was 
driven  far  from  the  city. 

The  speaker  referred  also  to  the  circumstances  attend- 
ing General  Lee's  crossing  the  Potomac  and  the  march 
into  Pennsylvania.  He  (Mr.  Davis)  assumed  the  re- 
sponsibility for  that  movement.  The  enemy  had  long 
been  concentrating  his  forces,  and  it  was  evident  that  if 
they  continued  their  steady  progress,  the  Confederacy 
would  be  overwhelmed.  Our  only  hope  was  to  drive  him 
to  the  defence  of  his  own  capital,  we  being  enabled  in  the 
meantime  to  reinforce  our  shattered  army.  How  well 
General  Lee  carried  out  that  dangerous  experiment  need 
not  be  told.  liichmond  was  relieved,  the  Confederacy 
was  relieved,  and  time  was  obtained,  if  other  things  had 
favored,  to  reinforce  the  army. 

"  But,"  said  Mr.  Davis,  "  I  shall  not  attempt  to  review 
the  military  career  of  our  fallen  chieftain.  Of  the  man 
how  shall  I  speak?  lie  was  my  friend,  and  in  that  word 
is  included  all  that  I  could  say  of  any  man.  His  moral 
qualities  rose  to  the  height  of  his  genius.  Self-denying  — 
always  intent  upon  the  one  idea  of  duty  —  self-controlled 
to  an  extent  that  many  thought  him  cold.  His  feelings 
were  really  warm,  and  his  heart  melted  freely  at  the  sight 
of  a  wounded  soldier,  or  the  story  of  the  sufferings  of  the 


APPENDIX.  417 

widow  and  orphan.  During  the  war  he  was  ever  con- 
scious of  the  inequality  of  the  means  at  his  control ;  but 
it  was  never  his  to  complain  or  to  utter  a  doubt ;  it  was 
always  his  to  do.  When,  in  the  last  campaign,  he  was 
beleaguered  at  Petersburg,  and  painfully  aware  of  the 
straits  to  which  \ve  were  reduced,  he  said, '  With  my  army 
in  the  mountains  of  Virginia,  I  could  carry  on  this  war 
for  twenty  years  longer.'  His  men  exhausted,  and  his 
supplies  failing,  he  was  unable  to  carry  out  his  plans.  An 
untoward  event  caused  him  to  anticipate  the  movement, 
and  the  army  of  Northern  Virginia  was  overwhelmed. 
But  in  the  surrender,  he  anticipated  conditions  that  have 
not  been  fulfilled  — he  expected  his  army  to  be  respected 
and  his  paroled  soldiers  to  be  allowed  the  enjoyments  of 
life  and  property.  Whether  these  conditions  have  been 
fulfilled,  let  others  say. 

"  Here  he  now  sleeps  in  the  land  he  loved  so  well,  and 
that  land  is  not  Virginia  only,  for  they  do  injustice  to 
Lee  who  believe  he  fought  only  for  Virginia.  He  was 
ready  to  go  anywhere,  on  any  service,  for  the  good  of  his 
country,  and  his  heart  was  as  broad  as  the  fifteen  States 
struggling  for  the  principles  that  our  forefathers  fought 
for  in  the  Revolution  of  1776.  He  is  sleeping  in  the  same 
soil  with  the  thousands  who  fought  under  the  same  flag, 
but  first  offered  up  their  lives.  Here  the  living  are  as- 
sembled to  honor  his  memory,  and  there  the  skeleton 
sentinels  keep  watch  over  his  grave.  This  citizen,  this 
soldier,  this  great  general,  this  true  patriot,  left  behind 
him  the  crowning  glory  of  a  true  Christian.  His  Chris- 
tianity ennobled  him  in  life,  and  affords  us  grounds  for 
the  belief  that  he  is  happy  beyond  the  grave. 

"  But,  while  we  mourn  the  loss  of  the  great  and  the 
true,  drop  we  also  tears  of  sympathy  with  her  who  was 

2  B 


418  APPENDIX. 

his  helpmeet — the  noble  woman  who,  while  her  husband 
was  in  the  field  leading  the  army  of  the  Confederacy, 
though  an  invalid  herself,  passed  her  time  in  knitting 
socks  for  the  marching  soldiers.  A  woman  fit  to  be  the 
mother  of  heroes  —  and  heroes  are  descended  from  her. 
Mourning  with  her,  we  can  only  offer  the  consolation  of  a 
Christian.  Our  loss  is  not  his,  but  he  now  enjoys  the  re- 
wards of  a  life  well  spent  and  a  never-wavering  trust  in  a 
risen  Saviour.  This  day  we  unite  our  words  of  sorrow 
with  those  of  the  good  and  great  throughout  Christendom, 
for  his  fame  has  gone  over  the  water  —  his  deeds  will  be 
remembered  ;  and  when  the  monument  we  build  shall 
have  crumbled  into  dust,  his  virtues  will  still  live,  a  high 
model  for  the  imitation  of  generations  yet  unborn." 

MEMORIAL   RESOLUTIONS. 

Colonel  C.  S.  Venable  then  presented  the  following  re- 
port of  the  Committee  on  Resolutions : 

"WHEREAS,  It  is  a  high  and  holy  duty,  as  well  as  a 
noble  privilege,  to  perpetuate  the  honors  of  those  who 
have  displayed  eminent  virtues  and  performed  great 
achievements,  that  they  may  serve  as  incentives  and  ex- 
amples to  the  latest  generation  of  their  countrymen,  and 
attest  the  reverential  admiration  and  affectionate  regard 
of  their  compatriots  ;  and  whereas,  this  duty  and  privilege 
devolves  on  all  who  love  and  admire  General  Robert  E. 
Lee  throughout  this  country  and  the  world,  and  in  an  es- 
pecial manner  upon  those  who  followed  him  in  the  field; 
or  who  fought  in  the  same  cause,  who  shared  in  his  glories, 
partook  of  his  trials,  and  were  united  with  him  in  the  same 
sorrows  and  adversity  ;  who  were  devoted  to  him  in  war  by 
the  baptism  of  fire  and  blood,  and  bound  to  him  in  peace 
by  the  still  higher  homage  due  to  the  rare  and  grand 


APPENDIX.  419 

exhibition  of  a  character  pure  and  lofty  and  gentle  and 
true,  tinder  all  changes  of  fortune,  and  serene  amid  the 
greatest  disasters ;  therefore,  be  it 

"  1.  Resolved,  That  we  favor  an  association  to  erect  a 
monument  at  Richmond  to  the  memory  of  Robert  E.  Lee, 
as  an  enduring  testimonial  of  our  love  and  respect  and 
devotion  to  his  fame. 

"2.  Resolved,  That  while  donations  will  be  gladly  re- 
ceived from  all  who  recognize  in  the  excellencies  of  Gen- 
eral Lee's  character  an  honor  and  an  encouragement  to 
our  common  humanity,  and  an  abiding  hope  that  coming 
generations  may  be  found  to  imitate  his  virtues,  it  is  de- 
sirable that  every  Confederate  soldier  and  sailor  should 
make  some  contribution,  however  small,  to  the  proposed 
monument. 

"  3.  Resolved,  That  for  the  purpose  of  securing  the 
efficiency  and  dispatch  in  the  erection  of  the  monument, 
an  executive  committee  of  seventy-five,  with  a  president, 
secretary,  treasurer,  auditor,  &c.,  be  appointed  to  invite 
and  collect  subscriptions,  to  procure  designs  for  said  monu- 
ment, to  select  the  best,  to  provide  for  the  organization  of 
central  executive  committees  in  other  States,  which  may 
serve  as  mediums  of  communication  between  the  executive 
committee  of  the  Association  and  the  local  associations  of 
these  States. 

"4.  Resolved,  That  we  respectfully  invite  the  ladies  of 
the  Hollywood  Association  to  lend  us  their  assistance  and 
co-operation  in  the  collection  of  subscriptions. 

"  5.  Resolved,  That  we  cordially  approve  of  the  local 
monuments  now  proposed  to  be  erected  by  other  associa- 
tions at  Atlanta,  and  at  Lexington,  his  last  home,  whose 
people  were  so  closely  united  with  him  in  the  last  sad 
years  of  his  life. 


420  APPENDIX. 

"  6.  Resolved,  That  while  we  cordially  thank  the 
Governor  and  Legislature  of  Virginia  for  the  steps  they 
have  taken  to  do  honor  to  the  memory  of  General  Lee, 
yet  in  deference  to  the  wishes  of  his  loved  and  venerated 
widow,  with  whom  we  mourn,  we  will  not  discuss  the 
question  of  the  most  fitting  resting-place  for  his  ever- 
glorious  remains,  but  will  content  ourselves  with  express- 
ing the  earnest  desire  and  hope  that  at  some  future  proper 
time  they  will  be  committed  to  the  charge  of  this  Associa- 
tion." 

Generals  John  8.  Preston,  John  B.  Gordon,  and  Henry 
A.  Wise  and  William  Henry  Preston,  and  Colonels  Robert 
E.  Withers  and  Charles  Marshall,  delivered  eloquent  and 
appropriate  speeches,  and  argued  that  Richmond  is  the 
proper  place  for  the  final  interment  of  the  remains  of 
General  Lee. 

The  Resolutions  were  adopted,  and  the  meeting  ad- 
journed. 

Extracts  fiom  flic  English  Press. 
PALL    MALL    GAZETTE. 

"  Even  amid  the  turmoil  of  the  great  European  struggle, 
the  intelligence  from  America  announcing  that  General 
Robert  E.  Lee  is  dead,  will  be  received  with  deep  sorrow 
by  many  in  this  country,  as  well  as  by  his  followers  and 
fellow-soldiers  in  America.  It  is  but  a  few  years  since 
Robert  E.  Lee  ranked  among  the  great  men  of  the 
present  time.  He  was  the  able  soldier  of  the  Southern 
Confederacy,  the  bulwark  of  her  Northern  frontier,  the 
obstacle  to  the  advance  of  the  Federal  armies,  and  the 
leader  who  twice  threatened,  by  the  capture  of  Washing- 
ton, to  turn  the  tide  of  success,  and  to  accomplish  a  revo- 
lution which  would  have  changed  the  destiny  of  the 


APPENDIX.  421 

United  States.  Six  years  passed  by  and  then  we  heard 
that  he  was  dying  at  an  obscure  town  in  Virginia,  where, 
since  the  collapse  of  the  Confederacy,  he  had  been  acting 
as  a  schoolmaster.  When  at  the  head  of  the  last  eight 
thousand  of  his  valiant  army,  the  remnants  which  battle, 
sickness  and  famine  had  left  him,  ho  delivered  up  his 
sword  to  General  Grant  at  Apponmttox  Court-House,  his 
public  career  ended  ;  he  passed  away  from  men's  thoughts  ; 
and  few  in  Europe  cared  to  inquire  the  fate  of  the  General 
whose  exploits  had  aroused  the  wonder  of  neutrals  and 
belligerents,  and  whose  noble  character  had  excited  the 
admiration  of  even  the  most  bitter  of  his  political  ene- 
mies. If,  however,  success  is  not  always  to  be  accounted 
as  the  sole  foundation  for  renown,  General  Lee's  life  and 
career  deserve  to  be  held  in  reverence  by  all  who  admire 
the  talents  of  a  General  and  the  noblest  qualities  of  a  sol- 
dier. His  family  were  well  known  in  Virginia.  De- 
scended from  the  cavaliers  who  first  colonized  that  State, 
they  had  produced  more  than  one  man  who  fought  with 
distinction  for  their  country.  They  were  allied  by  mar- 
riage to  Washington,  and,  previous  to  the  recent  war, 
were  possessed  of  much  wealth  ;  General  (then  Colonel) 
Robert  Lee  residing,  when  not  employed  with  his  regi- 
ment, at  Arlington  Heights,  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
places  in  the  neighborhood  of  Washington.  When  the 
civil  war  first  broke  out,  he  was  a  colonel  in  the  United 
States  Army,  had  served  with  distinction  in  Mexico,  and 
was  accounted  among  the  best  of  the  American  officers. 
To  him,  as  to  others,  the  difficult  choice  presented  itself, 
whether  to  take  the  side  of  his  State,  which  had  joined  in 
the  secession  of  the  South,  or  to  support  the  central  gov- 
ernment. It  is  said  that  Lee  debated  the  matter  with 
General  Scott,  then  comnmnder-in  chief;  that  both  agreed 
3G 


422  APPENDIX. 

that  their  first  duty  lay  with  their  State,  but  that  the 
former  only  put  the  theory  into  practice. 

"  It  was  not  until  the  second  year  of  the  war  that  Lee 
came  prominently  forward,  when,  at  the  indecisive  battle 
of  Fair  Oaks,  in  front  of  Richmond,  General  Johnston 
having  been  wounded,  he  took  command  of  the  army; 
and  subsequently  drove  McClellan,  with  great  loss,  to  the 
banks  of  the  James  River.  From  that  time  he  became 
the  recognized  leader  of  the  Confederate  army  of  Virginia. 
He  repulsed  wave  after  wave  of  invasion,  army  after 
army  being  hurled  against  him  only  to  be  thrown  back, 
beaten,  and  in  disorder.  The  Government  at  Washington 
were  kept  in  constant  alarm  by  the  near  vicinity  of  his 
troops,  and  witnessed  more  than  once  the  entry  into  their 
intrenchments  of  a  defeated  and  disorganized  rabble, 
which  a  few  days  previous  had  left  them  a  confident  host. 
Twice  he  entered  the  Northern  States  at  the  head  of  a 
successful  army,  and  twice  indecisive  battles  alone  pre- 
served from  destruction,  the  Federal  Government,  and 
turned  the  fortune  of  the  war.  He  impressed  his  char- 
acter on  those  who  acted  under  him.  Ambition  for  him 
had  no  charms,  duty  alone  was  his  guide.  His  simplicity 
of  life  checked  luxury  and  display  among  his  officers, 
while  his  disregard  of  hardships  silenced  the  murmurs  of 
his  harassed  soldiery.  By  the  troops  he  was  loved  as  a 
father,  as  well  as  admired  as  a  general ;  and  his  deeply- 
religious  character  impressed  itself  on  all  who  were  brought 
in  contact  with  him,  and  made  itself  felt  through  the 
ranks  of  the  Virginian  army.  It  is  said  that,  during  four 
years  of  war,  he  never  slept  in  a  house,  but  in  winter  and 
summer  shared  the  hardships  of  his  soldiers.  Such  was 
the  man  who,  in  mature  age,  at  a  period  of  life  when  few 
generals  have  acquired  renown,  fought  against  over- 


APPENDIX.  423 

whelming  odds  for  the  cause  which  he  believed  just.  He 
saw  many  of  his  bravest  generals  and  dearest  friends  fall 
around  him,  but,  although  constantly  exposed  to  fire, 
escaped  without  a  wound. 

"The  battles  which  prolonged  and  finally  decided  the 
issue  of  the  contest,  are  now  little  more  than  names. 
Antietam,  Fredericksburg,  Chancellorsville,  and  Gettys- 
burg, are  forgotten  in  Europe  by  all  excepting  those  who 
study  recent  wars  as  lessons  for  the  future,  and  would  col- 
lect from  the  deeds  of  other  armies  experience  which  they 
may  apply  to  their  own.  To  them  the  boldness  of  Lee's 
tactics  at  Chancellorsville  will  ever  be  a  subject  of  ad- 
miration ;  while  even  those  who  least  sympathize  with  his 
cause  will  feel  for  the  General  who  saw  the  repulse  of 
Longstreet's  charge  of  Gettysburg,  and  beheld  the  failure 
of  an  attempt  to  convert  u  defensive  war  into  one  of  at- 
tack, together  with  the  consequent  abandonment  of  the 
bold  stroke  which  he  had  hoped  would  terminate  the 
contest.  Quietly  he  rallied  the  broken  troops  ;  taking  all 
the  blame  on  himself,  he  encouraged  the  officers,  dispirited 
by  the  reverse,  and  in  person  formed  up  the  scattered  de- 
tachments. Again,  when  fortune  had  turned  against  the 
Confederacy,  when  overwhelming  forces  from  all  sides 
pressed  back  her  defenders,  Lee,  for  a  year,  held  his 
ground  with  a  constantly  diminishing  army,  fighting 
battle  after  battle  in  the  forests  and  swamps  around 
Richmond.  No  reverses  seemed  to  dispirit  him,  no  mis- 
fortune appeared  to  ruffle  his  calm,  brave  temperament. 
Only  at  last,  when  he  saw  the  remnants  of  his  noble  army 
about  to  be  ridden  down  by  Sheridan's  cavalry,  when 
eight  thousand  men,  half  starved  and  broken  with  fatigue, 
were  surrounded  by  the  net  which  Grant  and  Sherman 
had  spread  around  them,  did  he  yield  ;  his  fortitude  for 


424  APPENDIX. 

the  moment  gave  way ;  he  took  farewell  of  his  soldiers ; 
and,  giving  himself  up  as  a  prisoner,  retired  a  ruined  man 
into  private  life,  gaining  his  bread  by  the  hard  and  un- 
congenial work  of  governing  Lexington  College. 

"When  political  animosity  has  calmed  down,  and 
when  Americans  can  look  back  on  those  years  of  war 
with  feelings  unbiassed  by  party  strife,  then  will  General 
Lee's  character  be  appreciated  by  all  his  countrymen  as 
it  now  is  by  a  part,  and  his  name  will  be  honored  as  that 
of  one  of  the  noblest  soldiers  who  have  ever  drawn  a 
sword  in  a  cause  which  they  believed  just,  and  at  the 
sacrifice  of  all  personal  considerations  have  fought  man- 
fully a  losing  battle." 

LONDON    STANDARD. 

"  Few  are  the  generals  who  have  earned,  since  history 
began,  a  greater  military  reputation  ;  still  fewer  are  the 
men  of  similar  eminence,  civil  or  military,  whose  personal 
qualities  would  bear  comparison  with  his.  The  bitterest 
enemies  of  his  country  hardly  dared  to  whisper  a  word 
against  the  character  of  her  most  distinguished  General, 
while  neutrals  regarded  him  with  an  admiration  for  his 
deeds,  and  respect  for  his  lofty  and  unselfish  nature,  which 
almost  grew  into  veneration,  and  his  own  countrymen 
learned  to  look  up  to  him  with  as  much  confidence  and 
esteem  as  they  ever  felt  for  Washington 

"No  one  pretending  to  understand  in  the  least  either 
the  general  principles  of  military  science  or  the  particular 
conditions  of  the  American  war,  doubts  that  General  Lee 
gave  higher  proofs  of  military  genius  and  soldiership  than 
any  of  his  opponents.  He  was  outnumbered  from  first  to 
last ;  and  all  his  victories  were  gained  against  greatly  su- 
perior forces,  and  with  troops  deficient  in  every  necessary 


APPENDIX.  425 

of  war  except  courage  and  discipline.     Never  perhaps 
was  so  much  achieved  against  odds  so  terrible 

"  Always  outnumbered,  always  opposed  to  a  foe  abun- 
dantly supplied  with  food,  transports,  ammunition,  cloth- 
ing, and  all  that  was  wanting  to  his  own  men,  he  was  al- 
ways able  to  make  courage  and  skill  supply  the  deficiency 
of  strength  and  of  supplies 

"  Truer  greatness,  a  loftier  nature,  a  spirit  more  unsel- 
fish, a  character  purer,  more  chivalrous,  the  world  has 
rarely,  if  ever,  known.  Of  stainless  hue  and  deep  religious 
feeling,  yet  free  from  all  taint  of  cant  and  fanaticism,  and 
as  dear  and  congenial  to  the  cavalier  Stuart  as  to  the 
puritan  Stonewall  Jackson  ;  unambitious,  but  ready  to 
sacrifice  all  at  the  call  of  duty ;  devoted  to  his  cause,  yet 
never  moved  by  his  feelings  beyond  the  line  prescribed  by 
his  judgment;  never  provoked  by  just  resentment  to  pun- 
ish wanton  cruelty  by  reprisals  which  would  have  given  a 
character  of  needless  savagery  to  the  war ;  both  North 
and  South  owe  a  deep  debt  of  gratitude  to  him,  and  the 
time  will  come  when  both  will  be  equally  proud  of  him. 
And  well  they  may,  for  his  character  and  his  life  afford 
a  complete  answer  to  the  reproaches  commonly  cast  on 
money-grabbing,  mechanical  America.  A  country  which 
has  given  birth  to  men  like  him  and  those  who  followed 
him,  may  look  the  chivalry  of  Europe  in  the  face  with- 
out shame,  for  the  father-lands  of  Sidney  and  of  Bayard 
never  produced  a  nobler  soldier,  gentleman,  and  Chris- 
tian than  General  llobert  E.  Lee." 

SAVANNAH,  GEORGIA. 

At  the  meeting  held  on  the  15th  of  October,  it  was 
resolved  that  a  eulogy  should  be  pronounced  on  General 
Lee  —  the  19th  of  January,  1871.     General  A.  R.  Law- 
ton  was  appointed  to  deliver  it. 
36* 


426  APPENDIX. 

From  the  published  pamphlet,  we  make  the  following 
extracts,  with  which  we  close  this  collection. 

EULOGY  BY  GEN.  LAWTON. 

"  Nearly  seventy-one  years  ago,  in  conformity  with  a 
resolution  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  and  a 
proclamation  of  the  President  —  on  the  anniversary  of  the 
birthday  of  WASHINGTON  —  the  people  of  every  city, 
town,  village,  and  hamlet,  assembled  in  public  meetings 
to  testify  their  grief  by  suitable  eulogies  and  public 
prayers,  and  render  their  heartfelt  tribute  of  affection  for 
the  memory  of  the  Father  of  his  country.  The  grief  was 
universal,  and  the  testimonials  such  as  could  be  claimed 
for  him,  who  had  given  existence  to  a  young  Republic, 
of  free  and  happy  people.  All  that  was  said  and  done 
on  that  solemn  occasion,  was  under  the  sanction  and  con- 
nected with  the  organization  of  a  powerful  government, 
which  he  had  been  chiefly  instrumental  in  creating.  The 
great  captain  and  statesman  of  the  generation  in  which 
he  lived,  he  died  a  conqueror  in  the  field,  and  the  success- 
ful founder  of  an  empire. 

"  To-day,  we  meet  to  do  homage  to  the  memory  of  one 
whose  great  struggles  and  trials  in  the  field  —  with  all 
his  mighty  efforts  to  accomplish  what  his  and  our  hearts 
most  desired  —  resulted  in  final  disaster,  and  the  surren- 
der of  the  patriot  army  which  he  led  —  who  lived  not  to 
see  any  of  the  direct  or  material  results  accomplished  to 
which  these  stupendous  struggles  were  directed.  With  no 
government  to  announco  his  death,  and  no  organization 
to  preserve  his  memory,  we  are  here  to-day,  my  friends, 
summoned  only  by  the  spontaneous  impulses  of  our 
hearts,  to  mourn  the  loss,  and  commemorate  the  virtues 
of  ROBERT  E.  LEE.  The  entire  people  of  this  Southern 


APPENDIX.  427 

land  mourn  him  with  a  sorrow  all  the  more  touching,  for 
the  pathos  there  is  in  the  fallen  fortunes  of  the  truly  great 
and  good,  and  with  a  measure  of  respect,  admiration  and 
gratitude,  such  as  has  never  been  evoked  from  any  people 
under  the  sun.  At  the  hour  of  his  death,  without  power, 
without  place,  the  chieftain  of  a  lost  cause,  yet  was  he  the 
most  illustrious  and  beloved  personage  of  the  age  in  which 
he  lived  —  upon  whom  dearest  hopes  were  confidently 
fixed  in  times  of  fearful  trial  and  suffering ;  and  when 
hope  was  gone,  confidence,  respect  and  veneration  re- 
mained, intensified  and  illustrated  by  the  utmost  love  and 
affection  of  this  entire  land.  Such  is  the  result  of  the 
life  and  death  of  General  LEE  ;  such  is  the  spectacle  pre- 
sented by  this  assemblage  of  a  sorrowing  people! 

"Why  is  this  so?  What  were  the  elements  of  his 
character,  and  what  the  events  of  his  life;  what  had  he 
done  and  suffered,  which  made  him  so  truly  great  and 
good,  and  caused  him  to  be  respected,  admired  and  be- 
loved, beyond  all  other  men  of  the  century  in  which  he 
lived  ?  To  find  response  to  these  inquiries,  is  the  perilous 
task  which  your  kindness  has  assigned  me.  While  we 
must  look  to  his  own  character,  his  own  deeds,  and  his 
own  virtues,  for  the  true  causes  which  combine  to  produce 
the  results  we  now  contemplate,  and  place  him  far  above 
the  necessity  of  appealing  to  heraldry  or  ancestry  for  his 
title  to  glory  and  renown,  these  influences  are  not  to  be 
disregarded ;  nor  is  the  power  of  race  to  be  lightly  spoken 
of,  even  in  the  formation  of  such  a  sublime  character 
as  his. 

"Descended  from  an  old  and  prominent  family  in 
England,  one  of  whom  passed  over  the  channel  with 
William  the  Conqueror,  and  another  as  first  Earl  of 
Litchfield,  at  the  head  of  his  company  of  cavaliers, 


428  APPENDIX. 

accompanied  Richard  Coeur  de  Leon,  in  the  third  crusade, 
their  armor  may  be  seen  in  its  appropriate  place  in  the 
Tower  of  London,  and  banners  surmounted  by  the  family 
arms  found  in  the  chapel  at  Windsor  Palace.  And  from 
the  settlement  of  Virginia  to  the  present  day.  they  have 
filled  the  highest  offices,  Colonial,  State,  and  Federal,  in 
the  cabinet  and  in  the  field.  But  perhaps  no  one  of  this 
extraordinary  family  has  given  evidence  of  greater  natural 
powers,  or  greater  aptitude  for  public  affairs,  military  and 
civil,  than  the  immediate  ancestor  of  General  Lee, 'Light- 
Horse  Harry,'  of  the  Revolution.  Accustomed  to  think 
of  him  merely  as  the  bold  and  dashing  partisan  leader, 
the  favorite  of  Washington,  the  great  support  of  Greene, 
we  too  often  forget  that  he  was  also  a  consummate  orator, 
and  endowed  with  the  most  exquisite  classical  taste.  His 
letters  to  his  oldest  son  (by  the  second  marriage)  are  full 
of  the  most  beautiful  classical  allusions;  and  in  one  of 
them  he  discussed,  like  a  master,  the  sublime  doctrine  of 
the  'immortality  of  the  soul.'  But  above  all  did  he  incul- 
cate truth  and  self-command  upon  his  children 

"LEE,  a  Virginian  born  and  bred,  all  the  traditions  and 
glory  of  his  ancestors,  all  the  impulses  of  his  noble  heart, 
impelled  him  to  share  the  fortunes  and  accept  the  fate  of 
his  native  Commonwealth.  An  officer,  't  is  true,  of  the 
Federal  Government,  but  lent  to  that  government  by  the 
State  of  Virginia ;  and  only  so  long  as  Virginia  con- 
sented thereto.  He  had  fought  under  its  flag,  and  fur- 
nished his  shining  contribution  to  that  track  of  glory  left 
by  the  victorious  march  of  its  armies.  Sad  and  painful 
indeed  was  the  issue  presented,  but  he  did  not  hesitate  a 
moment  to  tread  the  path  of  duty;  and  decided  at  once 
not  to  remain  in  a  position  where  he  could  be  called  upon 
to  raise  his  hand  against  his  relatives,  his  children,  and 


APPENDIX.  429 

his  home,  and  the  grand  old  Commonwealth,  to  which  his 
allegiance  was  due.  He  resigned  his  commission  in  the 
United  States  army  (on  the  20th  of  April,  18G1,)  in  a 
letter  full  of  sadness  and  pathos,  and  tendered  his  services 
to  his  own  Virginia.  Placed  at  once  in  chief  command 
of  the  forces  raised  by  that  State,  when  Virginia  became 
one  of  the  '  Con  federate  States  of  America,'  he  was  trans- 
ferred, with  all  these  troops,  to  the  armies  of  the  young 
republic.  He  received  the  commission  of  full  general  in 
the  army  of  the  Confederate  States ;  and  the  prestige  of 
his  name,  and  the  opinions  already  formed  of  his  wonder- 
ful capacity  for  military  command,  at  once  marked  him 
for  the  confidence  and  the  hopes  of  a  gallant  and  strug- 
gling people.  Insensibly  to  himself  he  stood  up  as  one 
of  those 

"  'Men  on  whose  shoulders  at  a  moment's  warning, 
The  weight  of  mightiest  interests  was  flung, 
Who  in  the  conflict  cannot  shrink,  or  pause 
Tho'  for  mere  breath,  and  still  must  lift  their  crests 
Knight-like,  and  'mid  the  clang  and  clash  of  blows, 
Gigantic  hold  their  fame  up  with  firm  hunds, 
And  a  grand  issue  grandly  vindicate.' 

"  At  Lexington  the  great  Southern  leader  intrenched 
himself  upon  the  new  battle-field  of  education  and  intel- 
ligence, and  gathered  around  him  the  ardent  youth  of  a 
new  generation,  and  the  spirits  of  the  illustrious  dead,  for 
the  redemption  of  his  conquered  country.  Lexington  is 
the  capital  on  the  column,  otherwise  incomplete,  of  a  har- 
monious and  beautiful  patriotism.  Thus  in  the  discharge 
of  that  'duty,'  which  he  himself  has  said  in  a  letter  to 
his  son,  '  is  the  sublimest  word  in  our  language,'  he  con- 
tinued to  live  until  the  end  of  his  days. 


430  APPENDIX. 

"  But  in  this  quiet  and  retirement,  his  great  heart  was 
oppressed  by  the  condition  and  the  wrongs  of  his  beloved 
South.  He  had  expected  from  a  powerful  nation  accept- 
ing the  surrender  of  his  sword,  if  not  that  magnanimity, 
at  least  that  exercise  of  policy,  which  the  extent  of  their 
achievements,  and  the  practice  of  the  great  nations  of  the 
earth,  would  have  dictated.  He  knew  that  in  the  palmy 
days  of  Rome  no  triumphs  were  decreed  for  the  results 
of  civil  wars,  but  every  effort  used  to  gain  the  vanquished 
by  benefits  conferred,  and  thus  admit  them  again  into  the 
great  Roman  family.  And  thus  had  Rome  presented  the 
imposing  spectacle  of  'a  city  which  becomes  a  people, 
and  a  people  which  embraces  the  world.' 

"  But  neither  magnanimity,  nor  the  lessons  of  history, 
could  produce  such  a  result  with  the  government  that  ac- 
cepted his  surrender. 

"  History  gives  us  no  account  of  a  more  unhappy 
people  than  were  ours,  after  the  close  of  the  war.  Their 
cause  was  lost,  their  liberties  gone,  the  whole  surface  of 
the  country  spotted  over  with  the  graves  of  their  mar- 
tyred dead;  their  motives  aspersed,  their  character  ma- 
ligned, their  families  broken  up,  their  homes  desolate, 
their  churches  desecrated,  their  towns  burned  and  pillaged, 
their  fields  lying  waste,  and  their  children  starving;  and 
the  future  so  dark  and  uncertain  as  to  shed  no  light  upon 
the  cheerless  present.  The  keenness  of  the  anguish  which 
he  felt  was  aggravated  and  intensified,  not  only  by  de- 
monstrations of  the  ardent  love  which  this  people  bore 
him,  but  by  that  silence  which  he  imposed  on  himself,  for 
example  and  policy,  and  which  was  sometimes  mistaken 
for  a  want  of  thorough  appreciation  of  the  wrongs  under 
which  we  suffered.  As  he  looked  with  painful  anxiety 
to  the  future,  there  was  a  glimmer  of  hope  that  material 


APPENDIX.  431 

prosperity  might  yet  return  to  this  stricken  land  ;  that  the 
waste  places  might  be  again  made  glad,  and  a  generous 
soil  once  more  reward  the  labor  of  the  husbandman.  His 
imagination  might  see,  for  his  children  if  not  for  himself, 
the  valleys  of  his  beloved  South  once  more  covered  with 
waving  corn,  and  once  more  the  cattle  upon  a  thousand 
hills.  And  as  he  thought  upon  the  hecatombs  of  those 
he  loved,  who  had  been  sacrificed  to  constitutional  free- 
dom, and  the  blood  of  his  kinsmen  and  his  friends,  yet 
smoking  amid  the  desolations  of  his  home,  his  bereaved 
friendship  was  consoled  by  the  faith  which  points  to  the 
Eternal  Morning  —  and  the  voice  of  the  Redeemer  of 
mankind,  which  says,  'Thy  brother  is  not  dead,  but 
sleepeth,'  taught  him  to  look  for  reunion  in  the  hopes  of 
immortality.  But  his  suffering  patriot  heart  could  find 
only  despair  in  the  lessons  of  history.  Freedom  once 
abused  by  a  people,  dies  and  has  no  resurrect  ion.  A  fare- 
well once  taken  is  too  often  sad  and  final,  and  we  are  left 
to  abide  our  doom  in  stolid  resignation.  Such  was  the 
picture  presented  to  his  mind  by  the  condition  of  the  great 
American  Republic;  and  the  bitterness  was  only  increased 
by  the  fact  that  the  mass  of  those  who  controlled  her 
destiny  were  blind  to  her  real  condition. 

"  '  To  mute  nnd  to  material  things, 
New  life  revolving  summer  brings, 
The  genial  call  deiul  Nature  hears, 
And  in  her  glory  reappears  ; 
But,  oh  !   my  country's  wintry  state, 
What  second  spring  shall  renovate  ?  ' 

"  The  cold  steel  had  entered  his  heart,  and  pierced  it  to 
the  core.  Grandly  he  struggled,  but  gradually  he  sunk, 
under  the  weight  of  suffering,  mental  and  physical.  A 
disease  contracted  as  far  back  as  the  campaign  of  1864, 


432  APPENDIX. 

was  slowly  but  surely  undermining  a  constitution  well- 
nigh  as  remarkable  as  his  mental  and  moral  endowments. 
Possessed  of  extraordinary  manly  beauty,  both  of  face 
and  form,  he  had  a  strength  of  body,  and  a  capacity  for 
action,  for  endurance  of  hunger,  fatigue,  and  exposure, 
which  has  rarely  ever  been  equalled.  He  struggled  to 
the  last,  and  never  succumbed  to  disease,  until  actually 
stricken  down  in  the  very  discharge  of  a  specific  duty. . . . 
"  The  first  sensation  produced  by  the  news  of  General 
Lee's  death  can  never  be  forgotten, but  may  not  be  described. 
Confined  to  no  sect,  or  class,  or  latitude,  the  news  flashed 
across  the  Atlantic,  and  claimed  the  most  marked  atten- 
tion, even  amid  the  clash  of  arms  on  that  side  of  the 
ocean.  And  the  unmistakable  estimation  in  which  his 
exalted  character  was  held  by  all  true  men,  North  and 
South,  exhibited  to  us  the  first  ray  of  hope  that  a  return- 
ing sense  of  justice  was  at  hand.  So  intense  was  the 
feeling,  and  so  decided  the  demonstrations,  that  even  they 
who  would  not  join  in  the  outburst  of  sorrow  were  con- 
tent to  remain  silent.  Never  before  did  the  qua_int  but 
pointed  language  of  Jeremy  Taylor,  uttered  more  than 
two  hundred  years  ago,  more  fitly  apply  to  the  life  and 
death  of  any  man  :  '  He  lived  as  we  should  all  live,  and 
died  as  I  fain  would  die.  Such  was  his  death,  that  he 
did  not  die  too  soon.  And  his  life  was  so  useful  and  so 
excellent  that  he  could  not  have  lived  too  long.  Death 
consecrates  and  makes  sacred  that  person  whose  excellency 
was  such,  that  they  who  are  not  displeased  at  the  death 
cannot  dispraise  the  life  ;  but  they  that  mourn  sadly  can 
never  commend  sufficiently.' " 

FINIS. 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  L  BRARY  FACILITY 


AA      000143382    o 


